A history of the Scottish people

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Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
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ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

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A HISTORY

OF

THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE.

BT THE

Rev. THOMAS THOMSON.

WITH

INTRODUCTION BY CHARLES ANNANDALE, M.A., LL.D.

ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF ORIGINAL DESIGNS.

The main feattires may be stated as follows:

It is a full and detailed History of Scotland from the Earliest Times to
the Latest.

It is a History of the Scottish People, their manners, customs, and modes
of living at the various successive periods.

It is a History of Religion and Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland.

It is a History of Scotland's progress in Commerce, Industry, Arts,
Science, and Literature.

It is illustrated by a series of original designs reproduced in facsimile
from drawings by eminent artists.

Scotland's History 7)iore interesting than a Romance.

The history of Scotland from first to last — from the period of rudeness
and semi-barbarity at the coming of the Romans to the culture and enlighten-
ment of the present day — forms a more varied and stirring tale than any
to be found in the pages of romance. No work of fiction, indeed, can rival
in abiding interest the story of the rise and consolidation of the monarchy,
the wars with England, the deeds of Wallace and Bruce, the tragic fortunes
of Mary, the struggles of the Covenanters, the romantic episode of the '45 —
to adduce only a few of the striking topics falling to be treated in this work
in its course downward from the dawn of history.

A History of the Scottish People.

It is a complete history of the people and of the country, and, while
presenting a picture of Scotland in the very earliest period, brings the narrative
down to the present time, and thus gives an account of numerous events for
which other histories of Scotland will be consulted in vaiu.

New Light on Early Scotland.

Special attention is given in this history to early Scotland, and to the
vai'ious interesting questions regarding its inhabitants — those warlike natives,
who so manfully withstood the Roman invaders. The history of these ancestors
of ours, back to the remotest times — so far as it can be traced — is the subject
of the introductory chapter. Treating of the country as it was long before
its written history began, this chapter throws light upon a period that up till
very recent times was enveloped in profound darkness. Such a chapter, indeed,
could only have been written at the present day, since it exhibits the recent
results obtained by geologists, archaeologists, and other scientific inquirers.

A History of the Daily Life of the People, as well as of Wars, Battles,
and Affairs of State.

Wars and battles, and the doings of kings and nobles, of parliaments, and
governments, have their due importance given to them in this work. But the
daily life of the people, as it varied from period to period, is so intensely
interesting that one chief aim of the present Work is to describe tliis life, to
tell how and what our forefathers ate and drank, what was the character
of their dress, ornaments, and abodes, how they married, what were their
amusements, and the manner of their behaviour generally

A History of Religion and of Great Ecclesiastical Struggles.

In this section the aim has been, while giving a full and detailed narrative,
to be fair and just to all parties. The great topics dealt with are the intro-
i.luction and spread of Christianity, the Culdees and the early Scottish church,
the full establishment of the Roman Catholic system and its final overthrow,
the triumph of Presbyteriauism over Episcopacy after the sufierings of the
persecuted Covenanters, and the later developments giving rise to the churches
of the present day.

A History of Scottish Literature, and of Progress in Arts,
Science, and Industry.

Scotland has been conspicuous in Literature as well as in the discoveries
and improvements made in every Art and Science, and the number of illustrious
men she has produced is out of all proportion to the scantiness of her population.
Such names as Burns, Scott, Hogg, Campbell, Carlyle, Chalmers, Livingstone,
Watt, Brewster, Wilkie — to mention only a very few — would be an honour
to any country. Notices of such men and of their achievements and personal
history form part of this Work, while the improvements in agriculture, the
introduction of manufactures, the development of trades, the extension of
commerce are also fully described.

Written by Competent Authors.

The larger portion of The History of the Scottish People was written
by the Rev. Thomas Thomson, whose name is well known in connection with
various important publications, more especially TAe Gom.'prelLtnsive History of
England, and the Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. Mr.
Thomson's decease having prevented his labours on this history being brought
to their full conclusion, the work has been continued and the narrative brought
down to the present time by Dr. Charles Annandale, editor of the world-
renowned Imperial Dictionary of the English Language, of Tlie Popular
Encyclopedia, and other works; the instructive and far-reaching Introductory
Chapter being also from his pen.

Pictorial Illustrations by eminent Artists.

The Work will be illustrated by a series of forty original designs by the
eminent artists W. H. Margetson, Alfred Pearse, Walter Paget, Gordon Browne,
&c., which will greatly enhance its attractiveness and usefulness. For in these
drawings the characteristics of the men, the costumes of the periods in which
the incidents represented took place, and the various needful accessories, have
been carefully depicted. There will also be three maps, printed in colours,
showing how the country was divided at various epochs.

Conditions of Publication.

The History of the Scottish People will be published by subscription,
and printed on specially manufactured paper, super-roj^al 8vo size. It will be
issued in 19 parts, price 2s. each; or 6 di^^sional volumes, cloth elegant, price
8s. 6cZ. each.

*^* No order will be received for less than an entire set of the Work,
either in 19 parts or in 6 divisional volumes.

LONDON: BLAf'KIE .^- SON, Limitei',
GLASGOW, EDIXBrRCIH, AXD lU'ELTX.

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

in 2010 witii funding from

University of Toronto

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BRUCE SLAYS DE BOUXE IX FROXT OF THE ARMIES.

A GOOD OilEX FOR THE BATTLE OF BAXXOCKBURN. (A.D. 1314.)

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A HISTORY

OF THE Ol*^'*' *v

SCOTTISH PEOPl/fflj

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

U VLvs>c

o

Rev. THOMAS THOMSON

EDITOR OF "THE COMI'REUENSIVE HISTOKY OP ENGLASD;" ETC.

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WITH

A CONTmUATIOX TO THE JUBILEE YEAR OF HER MAJESTY
QUEEN VICTORIA (1SS7), AND AX

INTRODUCTION

GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS IN THE
PERIOD PRECEDING THE INVASION OF THE ROMANS.

BY

CHARLES ANNANDALE, M.A, LL.D.

EDITOR OF "THE IMPERIAL ENGLISH llICTIii.N'AllY;" "THE MODERN CYCLOPEDIA;" ETC.

DIVISIONAL-VOLUME L

EARLIEST XniES TILL DEATH OF KULEUT EKUCE, 13-29.

0i^

BLACKIE & SON, Limited,

LONDON, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLI

l/zrC / ^ ^

CONTENTS OF DIVISIONAL-VOL. I.

LIST OF PLATES AND MAPS.

Bruce slats Henry de Boune before the Battle of Bannockburn: a.d. 1314, • Frontis.

Defeat of the Danes at Lunoarty near Perth: a.d. 973, to face

JooELYN, Bishop op Glasgow, repudiates the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Yohk, „
The Countess of Cabrick carries Robert de Bruce off to Turnberry Castle, - • „
Wallace attacked by Lord Percy's Followers while fishing in Irvine Water. • ,,
Linlithgow Castle captured from the English: a.d. 1313, -•----.,

Map I. — Scotland about a.d. 850, „

Map II. — Scotland about a.d. 1066, „

Page
236
80
118
138
182
232
74

Introduction. Scotland in the Period anterior to the Roman Invasion. —Earliest notices of
the Country — The Greek n.avigator Pytheas circa 350 B.C. — Successive geological changes —
Scotland a glacier country — River-drift men — Cave-men — The Stone Age — Bronze Age — Iron
Age — Lake dwellings or crannogs — Hill-forts — Picts' houses— Burghs or brochs — Early races, -

Period I. From the Earliest Times to the Union of the Picts and Scots. a.d. 843.

I. Mythic and Legendary History of Scot-
land.— Origin of the Scots — Gathelus —
The Picts — King Fergus — Scots and Picts
oppose the Romans — Donald, the first
Christian King, - . - . .

II. From the Invasion of the Romans to the
Suttlement of the Dalriad Scots : A.n.
80-503. — Invasion by Agricola — Battle
of the Grampians — Hadrian's Wall —
Inv.asion by Severus — The ancient Cale-
donians— Settlement of the Dalriad Scots,

III. The Picts and the Scots. — History of the

Chap. Picts — Their territory, kings, and wars —
History of the Scots — Kenneth succeeds
to the Piotish throne — The Picts incor-
porated with the Scots, -
IV. History of Religon. — The Druids — Their
costume, places of worship, and creed —
Christianity introduced — Ninian, Pal-
ladius, Kentigern, Columba — The Culdees,
X. History of Society. — Government among
the Caledonians — Their weapons, cos-
tume, and ornaments — Their strongholds
— Their houses, domestic life, and occu-
pations,

Period IL From a.d. 843-1097.

I. From Kenneth Macalpin to Death of Mal-
colm IL : A.D. 843-1034.— Wars of Ken-
neth M.ocalpin — Malcolm I. and II. —
Danes defeated at Luncarty— Canute's
Invasion, ......

II. From Accession of Duncan to Accession
ofEdgar:A.D.1034-97.— Reign of Duncan

— ilacbeth becomes king — Malcolm Cin-
raore — Queen Margaret — Donald Bane, 83
III. History of Society during the Period, a.d.
843-1097.— Divisions of Celtic Scotland
— Life of the Nonvegian population in
Scotland — Account of the Scoto-Celtic
population, 94

Period III. From the Accession of Edgar to the Death of Alexander III. a.d. 1097-1286.

I. Reigns of Edgar, Alexander I., David I.:

A.D. 1097-1153. — Edgar's tranquil reign
— Alexander I.'s contests with the Eng-
lish hierarchy — David I. — Battle of the
Standard — David's grants to the Church,

II. Reigns of Malcolm IV. and William the

Lion: a.d. 1153-1214. — Minority of Mai
colm IV. — Revolt of .Somerled — William
the Lion invades England, and is taken
prisoner — His controversy with the Pope

— Independence of the Scottish Church
proclaimed, . - . . . 113

III. Reign of Alexander II. : A.n. 1214-1249.

— Scotland inv.aded by King John —
Rebellions in Caithness, Mor-iy, and
Galloway — Feuds between families of
Atholc and Bisset — Rebellion in Argyle, 123

IV. Reign of .Alexander IIL: A.D. 1249-1286.

— Difficulties about Alexander's coro-
nation— Alan Durward — Haco'slnvasion

CONTENTS OF DIVISIONAL- VOL. L

Chap. Page

— Battle of Largs — Kesistance to the
Pope — Romantic marriage of Robert de
Bruce to Countess of Carrick, - - 120
V. History of Religion: a.d. 650-12S6. —
The Culdee Church — Council at Whitby
— Adamnan, abbot of lona — Gradual
suppression of the Culdees — Ascendency
attained by Church of Rome — Arch-
bishop of York claims homage from Scot-

tish Church — The kingdom laid under
interdict, -...-. 141
VI. History of Society: a.d. 1097-1286.—
Feudal system established — Administra-
tion of justice — Slavery in the kingdom
— Commercial condition — Style of liv-
ing— State of clerical society— Architec-
ture— Schools —Michael Scot — Thomas
Rymer, ,-.... 154

Period IV. From the Death op Alexander III. to the Death of Robert Brite. a.d. 1286-1329.

I. The Interregnum from the Death of Alex-
ander III. to the Crowning of Baliol:
a.d. 1286-1292.— Troubles ou death of
Alexander III. — Plots and intrigues of
Edward I. — Death of Margaret of Nor-
way— Competitors for the cro^vn — Ed-
ward claims right of decision — Claims
of Baliol declared superior, - - - 166

II. Reign of John Baliol: a.d. 1292-1296.—
■Troubles of the Scottish king — Despotic
conduct of Edward — War commences —
Scots defeated at Dunbar — Baliol's sub-
mission and deposition, - - - - 175

III. Resistance to Edward I. under William

Wallace: a.d. 1296-1298.— Sir William
Wallace begins his patriotic career — His
successful exjjloits — Defeats the English
at Stirling — Appointed Guardian of Scot-
land— Edward invades Scotland — Battle
of Falkirk, 182

IV. War of Independence: a.d. 1298-1305.

— Repeated invasions of Scotland by
Edward I.— Baliol's conduct — Wallace
resigns the guardianship — Claims of the
Pope on Scotland — English defeated at
Roslin — Wallace outlawed — He is be-
trayed— His trial and execution, - - 193
V. War of Independence (continued): a.d.
1305-1307. — Robert Bruce's early career
— Assassination of Comyn — Coronation of
Bruce — He is defeated at ilethven Wood
and by the Lord of Lorn — Edward's
merciless proceedings — Execution of

Nigel Bruce, 206

VI. War of Independence (continued) : a.d.
1307-1312. — Bruce lands in Ayrshire
and renews the war — Edward I.'s last
attempt at invasion — Imbecile proceed-
ings of Edward II. — Bruce's invasions of
England, 217

VII. War of Independence (continued): a.d.
1312-1314. — Capture of Scottish for-
tresses by Bruce — Edward Bruce be-
sieges Stirling Castle — Preparations for
a decisive conflict — Battle of Baxnock-
BCRX — Consequences of the victory —
Death of John Baliol, . - - -
VIII. Reign of Robert Bruce: a.d. 1314-1318.
— Bruce's cares as a legislator — His in-
vasions of England — Edward Bruce in
Ireland — His misfortunes, defeat, and
death — The Scots retreat from Ireland, -
IX. Reign of Robert Bruce (continued) : a.d.
1318-1326. — Succession to the throne
arranged — Invasions and counter-in-
vasions— Conspiracy against Bruce — He
defeats Edward at Biland — Is reconciled
to the Pope — Birth of Bruce's son, after-
wards David II., - - - - -
X. Reign of Robert Bruce (concluded): a.d.
1326-1329.— Edward III.'s fruitless at-
tempts against Scotland — Peace at last
established — Bruce's secluded life at Car-
dross — His death — His dying charge to
Sir James Douglas,
XI. History of Religion: a.d. 1286-1329.—
Jealousy of the Scots for their religious
libert}- — Restrictions imposed on the
power of the clergy — The Pope's claim
upon Scotland — Bruce's successful re-
sistance, - - - - - !

.XII. History of Society: a.d. 1286-1329.—
Condition of Scotland at this period — Its
means of defence — Knights and common
soldiers — Revenue — Administration of
justice — State of commerce and agricul-
ture— Free peasantry, slaves, and bond
men — Sports of the people — John Duns
Scotus— John Basso!, . . - |

A HISTOKY

OF

THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

INTRODUCTION.

SCOTLAND IN THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO THE ROMAN INVASION.

Written history of Scotland begins with Agricola's invasion, that of England with invasion by Julius Caesar —
Civilization in Scotland and England at the beginning of their history — Britain visited in the fourth cen-
tury B.C. by the Greek navigator Pytheas— State of civihzation at this time— History can tell us nothing
of Scotland or England previous to this, but archseology helps us to go much further back — Geology shows
us both countries in ages vastly more remote — Various successive periods distinguished by geologists-
Great changes in former times in the geographical features, and the animal and plant Ufe of the British
Islands — Eai-ly land connection between Britain, the European continent, and North America — CUmate
of Britain then tropical, with plants and animals corresponding — Scotland and England inhabited by great
monsters long extinct — Active volcanoes in Scotland — Connection with America ceases, and Britain becomes
a peninsula of Europe — Ch.ange of climate to extreme cold, and Scotland smothered up in ice and snow —
Effect of glacier action on Scottish scenery — Britain becomes an archipelago by sinking into the sea, but
again rises and forms a large peninsula — First appearance of man in Europe and in Britain, in England
earlier than in Scotland — The river-drift men — The cave-men — The prehistoric period proper, previous to
which Britain sepanated from the Continent — The inhabitants of Scotland in the Stone Age and their
civilization — Probably belonged to the Iberian race— The Stone Age followed by the Bronze Age : Celts
now inhabit Britain— Civilization of Scotland in the Bronze Age— Great skill in metal working, articles of
gold plentiful — The Iron Age succeeds the Bronze, leading down to the beginnings of written historj' — The
lake-dwellings or crannogs— The hill-forts— The earth-houses or Picts' houses— The burghs or brochs—
With what races are the early inhabitants of Scotland to be connected — The Celts akin to the Anglo-
Saxons, Germans, Greeks, Romans, and other Aryan peoples — Early civilization of the Aryans and their
primitive seat and migrations — The Pictish question in its most recent phases.

IN the present chapter we purpose to set
forth briefly the main facts that in-
ijuirers have been able to glean regarding
the condition of Scotland in times anterior
to the point at which the WTitten history
of the country begins.' This point may be
fi.xed at the year 80 of the Christian era,
when the Romans invaded the country
under Agi'icola, and endeavoured to add it
to their already overgrown empire. The

1 For the statements in this chapter the foUi iwiiig are the
cljief authorities : Early Man in Britain and his Place in
the Tertiartj Period, by Prof. W. Boyd Dawkius (llacaiillan
& Co,, ISSO); Cai'c -hunting, by same author (llacmillan
& Co., 1S74); Oriijim of English History, by Charles J.
F,lt4>n, K.S.A. (Bernard Quaritch, 1890); Scotland in Pagan
Titncs: The Brojize and ,Stone Ages, by Dr. Joseph Andcr-
8cin (David DougKis, ISSJfi); Scotland in Pagan Times: The
Iron Age, by same autlior (Davi.l Douglas, 18S3); Prehis-
toric AnnaU of Scotla}ui, by (Sir) Daniel Wilson, LL.D.
(Macmillan, 1863, 2 vols.); The Ancient Stone Implements
ofOreal Britain, by John Evans, F.R.S., F.S. A. (Longmans,
1872); Prehistoric Times, by Sir John Lubbock (Williams &
VOL. I.

campaigns of Agricola are described in the
contemi)orary narrative of the Roman his-
torian Tacitus, and it is ■nath this that the
authentic history of Scotland begins, though,
as we may remind the reader, neither the
name Scotland nor the designation Scots
existed for centuries afterwards. At this
period, as duly narrated in a subsequent
chai)ter, we find Scotland inhabited by a
fairly numerous and decidedl}' warlike

Norpate, 1S7S); The Lake-Dtcellings of Enrope, by Robert
Munro, M.D. (Oassell & Co., 1890); Celtic Scotland, by W.
F. Skene (David Douglas, 1S7&-S0, 3 vols.); Celtic Britain,
by Piof. John Rhys(.S P. C. K., 1884); The Early Ethnology
of the British Isles, by same author (the Rhind Lectures in
Archeology for 1889); Prehistoric Anti'juities of the An/an
People-t, by Dr O. -Schrader. translated by F. B. Jevuns, M. A.
(Charles Griffln A Co., 18!)0); The Origin of the Aryans, by
Dr Isaac Taylor (Walter Scott, 1S90); The Scenery of Scot-
tajid, by Sir Archibald Ocikie (Macmillan & Co., 18S7):
The Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain, by
(Sir) A. C. Ramsay, LL.D.,K.R.S. (Stanford. 6th edition,
1878); Proceedings of the Soc. of A titiqttaries of Scotland, Ac

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

people, whom Agricola found to be stubborn
opponents, though he at last defeated them
in a great and well-contested battle, the
leader opposed to him being an able chief or
prince named Galgacus.

We thus see that Scotland makes its ap-
pearance in history at a much more recent
period than many other countries. Not to
speak of Greece, Kome, and other celebrated
nations of antiquity, Scotland is even be-
hind England in respect to the time at
which history first deals with its fortunes,
since England was visited about a hundred
and thirty -five years earlier by Julius Cajsar,
who has left us an account of southern
Britain and its inhabitants written by his
own hand. In B.C. 55 and 54 he twice
crossed over from Gaul with a considerable
force and gained some successes against the
warlike Britons, though he did not stay to
permanently subjugate the country. This,
however, the Romans accomplished about a
century lafer under the Emperor Claudius,
and the whole of Britain south of the Clyde
and Forth was ultimately incorporated in
the Eoman Empire. Julius Caesar found a
tolerably advanced state of civilization ex-
isting among the Britons of the south-east,
more advanced, probably, than that which
prevailed among the Caledonians in the
time of Tacitus. He represents the country
as thickly inhabited, the houses numerous,
the people as cultivating corn, and as pos-
sessing great numbers of cattle. They were
governed by petty kings or chiefs, employed
war-chariots armed mth scythes, possessed
ships which could take part in a sea-fight;
and altogether were found by the Romans
to be no mean antagonists. One practice
was very characteristic of them, namely that
of painting or staining themselves of a blue
colour with woad to render their appear-
ance more terrible to their enemies in battle.
Some of the tribes or peoples were so far
advanced as to have provided themselves
with coined money, and gold pieces of
British coinage still exist that are believed
to belong to a date as early as from 200 to
150 B.C. Tin was an important article of
export, bronze was imported in return, and
iron was moderately plentiful, perhaps even
smelted from native ores. Away from the

south and south-east of the island a more
primitive state of matters seems to have
existed, since according to Csesar most of
the inland people grew no corn, but lived on
meat and milk, and clothed themselves with
skins. Only a small part of the country,
however, came under Cissar's own observa-
tion, and it must have been difficult for him
to get trustworthy information regarding
the rest.

Such was the civilization of southern
Britain at a period not long before the be-
ginning of the Christian era, and from this
time onward the light of history may be
said to shine on the country with more or
less brightness. Accordingly the line be-
tween historic and prehistoric Britain might
be drawn here, though we are favoured
with a brief glimpse of the country at a
period nearly three centuries earlier, when
a state of matters is revealed that quite
agrees with the more detailed picture pre-
sented to us in Csesar's narrative. The ob-
server to whom we are indebted in this
case was a Greek voyager of 'Marseilles
named Pytheas, who about the middle of
the fourth century B.C. .made a voyage
of exploration to the seas and coasts of
northern Europe, then almost entirely un-
known to the civilized communities dwell-
ing around the Mediterranean Sea. Mar-
seilles, anciently called Massilia or Mas-
salia, had been founded by Greek colonists
long previously, and was then a great trad-
ing centre; and Pytheas was sent out by
some enterprising merchants on a voyage
of discovery which, it was hoped, would
result in an extension of the commerce of
their city. The particulars that have come
down to us regarding this voyage are very
fragmentary and imperfect, and only re-
ported at second hand, but as far as they
relate to Britain are most interesting and
valuable. Mr. Elton, who has carefully
studied the subject of Pytheas and his
voyage, states that Pytheas remained for
some time in Britain, and appears to have
visited many parts of the island, and to
have coasted along the whole length of its
eastern side. " He appears to have arrived
in Kent in the early summer, and to have
remained in this country till after the har-

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

3

vest, returning for a second visit after his
voyage to the north. ... In the southern
districts he saw an abundance of wheat in
the fields, antl observed the necessity of
thrashing it out in covered barns instead of
using the unroofed floors to which he was
accustomed in the sunny climate of Mar-
seilles. ' The natives,' he .said, ' collect the
sheaves in great barns and thrash out the
corn there, because they have so little sun-
shine that our open thrashing places would
be of little use in that land of clouds and
rain.' He added that they made a drink
by mixing wheat and honey, which is still
known as ' metheglin ' in some of cm-
country districts; and he is probably the
first authority for the description of the
British beer, which the Greek physicians
knew by a Welsh name, and against which
they warned their patients as a ' drink pro-
ducing pain in the head and injury to the
nerves.' . . . Pytheas appears to have
known the eastern coasts from the Shetland
Isles to the North Foreland, but not to
have visited Ireland or even the western
region of Britain."

Previous to the time of Pytheas the
knowledge of Britain shown by ancient
writers is of the vaguest character. Ai'is-
totle, however, who wrote probably before
the time at which the celebrated voyage
was made, knows of the existence of two
large islands in this quarter, and refers to
them as follows: "Beyond the Pillars of
Hercules the ocean flows round the earth ;
in this ocean, however, are two islands, and
those very large, Albion and lerne, which
are larger than those before mentioned, and
lie beyond the Kelti." Britain itself is
dimly referred to by the Greek writer
Hecatajus of Miletus, about five centuries
before the Christian era, as a large island
lying off the coast of Gaul, inhabited by the
sacred race of the Hyperboreans. At a
somewhat later date Herodotus — "the father
of history" — appears to refer to the British
Islands under the name of the Cassiterides,
a remote and rarely visited region known
only as an important source whence tin
was derived. But in the age of the Greek
historian the Alps constituted a wall of
separation scarcely less effectual in shutting

out all beyond it from the influence and
even the knowledge of the nations around
the Mediterranean, than the broad waters
of the Atlantic in holding apart the New
World from the Old. Herodotus, accord-
ingly, not only expressly states his own
lack of direct knowledge " of any islands
called Cassiterides from which the tin is
wont to be brought," but he adds still
fiu'ther : " I am not able, though paying
much attention to this matter, to hear of
any one that has been an eye-witness that
a sea exists on that side of Europe. But
doubtless the tin and the amber are wont
to come from the extreme parts of Europe."
The Cassiterides are usually identified -n-ith
the Scilly Islands, or with these and part
of Cornwall; but they are often spoken of
as closely connected with Spain, and their
real identity is doubtful. ^ The geographical
notions of the ancients were so far from the
truth that south-western England and Ire-
land were frequently represented as coming
within a short distance of Spain, while Scot-
land on the other hand, instead of forming
a northern continuation of England, was
turned round to the east so as to lie at right
angles to it, Ireland being also placed to the
north of both.

Of the notices of Britain previous to the
time of Cffisar that of Pytheas is by far the
most important, the particulars given by
him being not only exceedingly interesting,
but also highly valuable for the light they
throw on the early condition of southern
Britain. It is much to be regretted on be-
half of Scottish history that similar infor-
mation has not come down to us regarding
the state of matters which Pvtheas found
prevailing among the inhabitants of the
northern portion of the island. This, how-
ever, is denied us, and as already stated,
Scotland first emerges from the darkness
of the prehistoric ages in the narrative of
Tacitus and in the first century of the
Christian era.

From the account given by the Roman
historian we can perceive that the inhabi-
tants— " the Britanni " as he calls them, or
"the peoples inhabiting Caledonia" — were
not mere savages, that they had made some
advances in civilization, and were focmen

4

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

not unworthy to meet in arms the Roman
invaders. Hence we naturally reflect that,
as Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona — as brave
men lived before Agamemnon — so brave
leaders may have distinguished themselves
before Galgacus encountered the Roman
legionaries, and may also have performed
C exploits worthy of celebration by poet or
historian. AVhen we think of "the dark
backward and abysm of time" preceding
the invasion of Agricola, we are led to
speculate also as to the race-connections
and the original home of the first inhabi-
tants, and as to the stages of culture
through which they had passed previous
to the time at which we find them fight-
ing for hearth and home against the
Roman soldiers. At one time such specu-
lations would have seemed hopeless and
fruitless enough, but at the present day it
is remarkable how much knowledge we
have acquired of Scotland in the prehistoric
^^ period, and how detailed a picture can be
drawn of the civilization of its inhabitants
in times long before any historical date can
be fixed, or any series of events chronolo-
gically established. This knowledge we
mainly owe to the modern science of archae-
ology, which endeavours to reconstruct the
past from unwritten records, from the relics
that peoples of former ages have left behind
them, from the implements, weapons, and
ornaments that they made and used, and
from the graves in which their dead were
buried. By drawing from these such evi-
dence as they are capable of furnishing,
archreologists have come to the conclusion
that in Scotland and many other countries
three successive stages of civilization must
have existed in the past — stages that have
now become well kno^^Ti and familiarly
spoken of under the respective designations
of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the
Iron Age — from the materials employed in
the successive periods for the making of
implements, weapons, and articles of various
kinds. The last of those ages had begun
by the time that the Scotland of history is
presented to our view. The other two had
begun and ended long before Scotland was
known to the outside world.

It would be impossible, as will be shown

in a little, to exaggerate the services that
archaeology has rendered in enabling us to
reconstruct the past; but there is another
science, geology, by which it may be sup-
plemented, and which enables us to go
further back still, if we desire. Archaeo-
logy can tell us nothing of Scotland previous
to its becoming the abode of man; if we
wish to learn something of the country at
a more remote period we must put our-
selves rmder the guidance of the geologist.
He can carry us with him to a time more
distant by countless ages than that during
which the archaeologist finds any material
to work on, and can give us an idea of what
our country was long before it had any
human inhabitants, when its climate and
geography were very different from what
they now are, and when it was roamed over
by huge animals that have long ago dis-
appeared from the earth, or are now only
to be met with in localities far removed
from Scotland. The wonderful changes
that geology tells of are now well enough
known : the substitution of land for sea and
sea for land; the upheaval of mountains
and their disintegration and remodelling by
rain, frost, and other agencies ; the appear-
ance of strange types of animals and plants,
and their subsequent disappearance, the fact
that they once lived lieing known to us only
from "the testimony of the rocks" and
their occurrence in the form of fossils.
These are all familiar to our minds as
phenomena belonging to the past history of
the earth, so that the words of Tennyson
readily appeal to us as a vivid and pic-
turesque presentation of actual and ascer-
tained fact:

" Thei-e rolls the deep where grew the tree.
Oh, earth, what changes hast thou seen !
There where the long street roars hath been
The stillness of the central sea.

The hills are .shadows, and the}' flow
From form to form, and nothing stands ;
They melt like mists, the solid lands,

Like clouds they shape themselves and go."
— In Manoriam, cxxiii.

Of such changes Scotland and the British
Islands as a whole have had their full share,
and we need not here attempt to trace them
in any detail. It will be interesting, how-

THE PREHISTOEIC PERIOD.

ever, to go back for a short time to the last
of the great periods which geologists have
recognized as belonging to the earth's past
history, since it was during this period that
GUI' planet was prepared for the abode of
man. The periods here referred to are
called life-periods, being based on the gene-
ral character of the living forms that succes-
sively prevailed. The first of the periods
has been named the Primary or Palseozoic
period (that is, period of "ancient Ufe");
the second the Secondary or Mesozoic period
(the period of "middle life"); the third the
Tertiary or Cainozoic period (the period of
" recent life "). Some authorities regard the
last period as continuing do^vn to the pre-
sent time, though many others recognize a
Post-tertiary or Quaternary period as coming
after the Tertiary.

The most noteworthy animals of the first
period were fishes and amphibians, while
among the most remarkable vegetable forms
were pines, tree-ferns, and gigantic trees
akin to club-mosses. The Secondary period
was characterized by the prevalence of huge
reptiles — some herbivorous others carni-
vorous, some living on land others li\ing
in the water, while others again disported
themselves in the air like monstrous bats.
Birds first appear in this period, and a few
insignificant mammals. In the next or
Tertiary period mammals reach theu' highest
development, and we become acquainted
with the mastodon, mammoth, and other
gigantic creatures now extinct, the whole
series of animal life being latterly crowned
by the apjiearance of man, in company with
the numerous species of animals that still
inhabit the earth.

The Tertiary period, regarded as a whole,
and as continuing down to the i)resent time,
has becndivided into si.x well-defined stages,'
each marked by its own special character-
istics, and named respectively and in order
of downward succession Eocene, Meiocene,
Pleiocene, Pleistocene, Prehistoric, Historic.
It is not till the fourth of these stages or
epochs that we find evidence of the exist-
ence of man in Britain, but the changes
through which the British Islands passed

'By Prof. Boyd Dawkins, In his work. Early Jfmi in
Britain and hi» Place in the Tertiary Period.

from the Eocene epoch downwards were so
remarkable that they deserve to be briefly
passed in review.

In the first or Eocene epoch of the
Tertiary period, literally in the "dawn"
of this period (Greek eos, dawn; kainos, re-
cent), the land that now belongs to the
British Islands formed part of the conti-
nent of Eui'ope, being joined to Scandinavia
on the north-east, as also to France on the
south-west, while part of south-eastern Eng-
land was covered with sea. North-westward
from the British area ran a comparatively
narrow stretch of land connecting Europe
■with America, by way of the Faroes, Iceland,
and Greenland, and separating the Atlantic
from the North Sea, which latter again was
separated from the Arctic Ocean bj' land
extending from Scandinavia to Spitzbergen
and Greenland. This land connection with
America offered a means of migration for
plants and animals from America to Europe,
and from Eiu'ope to America, and thus we
find at the period of which we are now
speaking an opossum and other animals
common both to Britain and America, while
the alligator that still remains a denizen of
America then haunted the rivers of the
south of England. Among the animals be-
longing to the Britain of this period were
also huge turtles and crocodiles, quadrupeds
like the tapir of tropical America and Asia,
and others somewhat similar to the hippo-
potamus, a beast of prey resembling the
hyaina, and another as large as a bear. The
vegetation was to a great extent tropical in
character, including evergreen fruit-trees,
palms, and cacti, besides oaks, elms, beeches,
and other forest trees. That the climate
must have been tropical is clear from the
evidence both of the plants and the animals,
and a mean temperature of 70^ has been esti-
mated for Britain in the middle of this
period. As regards the physical features of
the country, the chief mountain masses were
in the same relative positions as at present,
but the elevations were higher and more
precipitous, and active volcanoes probably
existed in the Western Highlands of Scot-
land.

In the second or Sleiocene stageof the Ter-
tiary period (the name means "less recent"

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

— as compared with the following stages)
the British area was still united to the
continent of Europe and to America, but
the southern seaboard of England was now
washed by a very small portion of sea, the
greater part, if not the whole of the English
Channel being latterly dry land. The
principal mountains were in the same posi-
tions as at present, but were very much
higher. In the western and northern parts
of the island they rose to an estimated
height of 6000 or 7000 feet, and as the
general level of the land was probably
higher by 3000 feet, the actual height of
some of the mountains above the sea would
be not less than 10,000 feet. At this time
there were active volcanoes in the north
and west of the British Isles, some of them
of remarkable size. In Mull there was a
great volcano, now represented by Ben
More, which is a mere fragment of the
original mass. The original Ben More is
calculated to have been 10,000 or 11,000
feet in height at least; and there was a
volcano in Skye of like dimensions. At
this time, indeed, along a line of 400 miles
in the British area, there rose a chain of
active volcanoes, comparable in magnitude
to those of the Andes, and overwhelming
from time to time with lava and ashes the
adjacent forests. The plants of the British
Islands at this period included an evergreen
oak, a huge conifer resembling the mam-
moth-tree of California, plane-trees, cin-
namon-trees, gum-trees, a rattan palm, and
various other plants equally strange to mo-
dern Scotland. On the continental area
grew palms and other plants, all testifying
to the mildness of the climate at this period.
Among mammals may be mentioned rhino-
ceroses, tapirs, the girafle, the dinotherium —
a huge quadruped with a proboscis and vrith
tusks in the lower jaw curving downward ;
the mastodon — a sort of elephant with tusks
in both the upper and the lower jaw; a great
carnivorous animal called the sabre-toothed
lion, and numerous apes. Both Iceland and
Spitzbergen had then a temperate climate,
and that of West Greenland was such as
to allow magnolias, chestnuts, oaks, planes,
and vines to flouiish.

The succeeding or third period, that is,

the Pleiocene or "more recent" stage of the
Tertiary, exhibits as regards the geography
of Britain several important changes from
the two preceding epochs. A great sinking
of land had by this time taken place, and
where there was formerly a continuous
land-siu'face between the British area and
Scandinavia there was now a sout-hward
prolongation of the North Sea. The Atlantic
and North Sea were now also connected,
owing to the sinking and disappearance of
the tract of land which had previously ex-
tended north-westward to Iceland and Green-
land. Accordingly the British Islands now
formed a solid peninsula, whose western
coast-line lay beyond the present entrance
to the English Channel or Cape Clear, be-
yond the west coast of Ireland and the
Hebrides, and ran north-eastwards so as
to take in the Shetland Islands; while
dry land entirely occupied the place of the
English Channel, and afforded a more con-
tinuous connection vfiih the Continent than
formerly existed in this quarter. The
mountains as before were similar in position
to those irith which we are still familiar,
but much higher. The volcanoes were
probably active at the beginning of the
period, but gradually became extinct. The
rivers flowed generally in courses similar
to those they still possess, but those in
particular that emptied themselves into the
Atlantic were very much longer, since the
land then extended so much further to the
west. The climate, though warmer than
that of modern Britain, was colder than
formerly, and continued getting colder to
the end of the period. Among British
animals of this time we find a mastodon,
an elephant, a hyaena, a bear, and a beast
of prej' allied to the leopard. The mammalia,
both of Britain and the Continent, are seen
to be by this time very closely akin to those
that still inhabit the earth.

We now reach the Pleistocene or " most
recent" period, the fourth of the epochs or
stages mentioned above, otherwise regarded
as the first stage of the Quaternary or
Post-tertiary di\'ision of geologic time. This
period is exceedingly interesting for various
reasons, but especially for the climatic, geo-
gi-aphical, and other revolutions that it wit-

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

nessed, and because in it, as already stated,
we find for the first time indubitable evi-
dence of the existence of man in Britain.
During this period, or part of it at least, the
British area still formed a portion of the

mainland of Eiu'ope, but extended much fur-
ther to the west, north, and east than at
present; Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys
and Shetlands being all emljraced within its
limits, and the bed of the North Sea being

Mat showiku ItKiXAiK in tub Puusiocejie Age. (By permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.)

then dry land. Generally speaking it ap-
pears that the climate of Europe diu'ing
this epoch showed great extremes between
the north and the south, there lieing a
middle zone, comprising France, Germany,
and great part of Britain, in which the
winters were cold and the summers warm,
as in middle Asia and North America.
Besides this there were one or more periods
during which the climate as a whole, after
getting colder and colder, reached so great

a degree of severity that vast tracts were
wrapped uji in a permanent covering of ice
and snow, such as may still be seen in the
interior of Greenland. The greater part of
Britain, and Scotland in partic\ilar, must
have then formed a scene of awful solitude
and desolation, being entirely smothered
up in glaciers, which slowly and resistlcssly
moved onwards from the highei- grounds to
the sea as their mass was continually being
augmented by the fall of snow. In some

8

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

places these icy masses ai'e estimated to
have reached a thickness of 2500 or 3000
feet. The effect of glacier action on the
scenery of Scotland has been powerfid and
endming, as is pointed out by Sir Archibald
Geikie in particular.

"The surface of Scotland," he remarks,
"like that of Ireland and of the northern
half of England, as well as the whole of
Scandina\-ia and northern Europe, is dis-
tinguished from more southern countries
by a peculiar contour, visible almost every-
where, irrespective of the nature of the rock.
This contour consists in a rounding and
smoothing of the hills and valleys into long
flowing outlines. What were no doubt once
prominent crags have been ground down
into undulating or pillow-shaped knolls,
while deep hollows and gentler depressions
have been worn in the solid rock. It may
seem paradoxical to speak of the well-known
rugged Highland mountains as showing
I traces of a general smoothing of their sur-
face. But such is really the case ....
Even in the wildest Highland scenery, where
the casual tourist may see nothing but
thunder-riven crags and precipices, and
glens blocked uji with their ruins —
' Precipitous black jagged rooks,
For ever shattered and the same for ever ' —

an eye trained to observe it can detect the
same universal smoothing and moulding."

"With regard to the movements and mass
of the Scottish glaciers the same authority
writes as follows: —

" It is quite possible to realize the main
movements of the Scottish ice-sheet as it
crept seaward. From Cape Wrath to the
south-west of Ireland one vast glacier pushed
out into the Atlantic, where it broke up
into icebergs that probably drifted away to
the north %vith the prevalent winds and
currents. The Firth of Clyde was choked
with deep ice which moved steadily south-
ward, and, joined by the mass that drained
from the uplands of Galloway, the Lake
Countiy and Wales, filled up the basin of
the Irish Sea. From the southern High-
lands the ice marched south-eastwards across
the chain of the Ochil Hills, and uniting
with that which streamed away from the
hills of Lothian and Peebles went out into

the basin of the North Sea. There the
Scottish ice-sheet appears to have met with
that which descended from Scandinavia,
and to have marched soirthward along the
east of England. From the eastern Grampi-
ans the drainage was towards the sea and
north-east, while a vast thickness of ice
streamed northwards into the Moray Firth,
passing northwards across the low plains of
Caithness and the Orkney and Shetland
Islands, and forming with the Norwegian
ice-sheet a vast glacier that stretched
probably in one unbroken wall of ice for
some 1500 miles from Cape Clear to beyond
the North Cape. Among the many con-
trasts which geology reveals between the
present and the past there is surely none
that appeals more vividly to the imagination
than that which the records of the Ice Age
bring before us."

There is one feature of the surface of
Scotland and certain other regions which
we should not readily associate with the
Ice Age, and which yet such an eminent
authorit}' as Sir Andrew C. Kamsay main-
tains to have had its origin in that period,
and to be directly due to the action of
glaciers. We refer to the numerous lakes
which form such a common and attractive
feature of Scotland. These mostly lie in
rock-bound hollows or depressions, and Sir
Andrew Eamsay believes that such rocky
basins have been scooped out by the action
of glacier-ice, though of course he does not
attribute the existence of all the lakes to
this cause. He first worked out his theory
in connection with the Lake of Geneva and
the other Svriss lakes, but he applies it
equally to the Scottish lakes, such as Loch
Lomond, Loch Katrine, and Loch Doon,
insisting that the featm-es of the hollows in
which these lakes lie can only be explained
on the hypothesis of ice action, abundant
evidence of which can yet be pointed out.
Many of the fiords or sea-lochs so common
on the west coasts of Scotland and Norway
he lielieves to have been originally rock-
basins formed in this way, though now arms
of the sea; and one proof of this origin is
the well-known fact that they are generally
shallower at their entrance than farther
inward.

THE PEEHISTOEIC PEEIOD.

Authorities are not agreed as to the cause
or causes that produced the glacial period
here spoken of, but one cause to which the
severity of the climate was probably due in
part was the greater elevation of the land
at this time. A period of subsidence, how-
ever, now followed, and a large portion of the
surface of the country disappeared beneath
the sea, lea\'ing the present British area to
be represented by an archipelago of islands
formed of the higher mountain masses.
These continued to be still covered with
glaciers, which, when they reached the sea,
gave off great masses of ice to float away as
icebergs. As e^^dence of this submergence
we still find sea-shells in Scotland at eleva-
tions of more than 500 feet above the pre-
sent level of the sea, while the weU-kno\vn
"raised beaches" are witnesses of the same
fact. The land again emerged, however,
and Britain and Ireland became once more
united to the rest of Europe. The climate
also became less severe, though snow-fields
and glaciers still continued to clothe the
mountains and to creep do^vnwards into
the valleys. By degrees the annual tem-
perature rose higher and higher, becoming
at last similar to what it now is. The
glaciers thus entirely disappeared from the
British area, though not from the higher
elevations of Europe, where they are still
represented in the Alps, in Scandinavia,
and even in the Pyrenees.

That man can hardly have been an in-
habitant of Scotland during the rigorous
period of ice and glaciers just described is
obvious. When we first find evidence of
his e.xistence in Europe, it is not in Scot-
land that he appears, but in England and
on the Continent, his presence being at-
tested by the discovery of rude flint im-
plements which must have been fashioned
by his hands. These tools, made of stone,
have a distinctive character of their own,
and as they want the polish and finish of
stone implements belonging to a later age,
they are classed, in contradistinction to
those, as palccolUMc, the others being known
as neoliikic (from QivQck palaios, ancient, neos,
new, and liihos, a stone). These early im-
plements are found covered up in certain
gravelly deposits laid down by rivers, and

hence the men who must have used them
are known as the " men of the river-drift."
So far these river-drift men are known to
have inhabited a part of England only,
namely the south-eastern portion, and espe-
cially the valley of the Thames, and the
implements bearing witness to their pres-
ence are chiefly found towards the close of
the period now dealt with. The implements
belong to a very few types, such as flakes
with sharp edges intended for cutting or
scraping, pointed instruments of various
kinds, some of them similar to lance-heads
or spear-heads, others perhaps serving as
digging or boring tools, hatchets, &c. Along
with these objects made of stone, no doubt
others made of wood, bone, or horn may
have been used, but of this evidence is
wanting. The river-drift men, whatever
may have been their natui'al endowments,
mental or physical, were evidently in a very
low stage of cultiu'e judged by oui" standards.
No doubt they were a race of hunters living
entirely on the products of the chase; they
had no tillage and no domestic animals, and
probably resembled in manner of life more
the aboriginal natives of Australia than any
other people with whom we are acquainted.
Besides Britain the river-drift men inhabited
France, Spain, Greece, North Africa, Wes-
tern Asia, and India.

As contemporaries these nomadic himters
had in Britain the grisly bear, now found
only in North America; the cave -bear,
another large carnivorous animal making its
abode in caves; the lion, the leopard, the
horse, the stag, the Irish elk, the reindeer,
the lU'us, the bison, the hippopotamus, the
rhinoceros, the mammoth, the elephant; so
that if they had picntj^ of animals to supply
them with food they had others to contend
with as formidable foes. Only two of these
animals, the mammoth and the Irish elk,
have become altogether extinct. The mam-
moth was an inhaliitant of Scotland as well
as England and Ireland. It lived also in
France and other parts of Europe, and its
remains have been found in Sil)eria and
North America. In paits of Siberia these
remains are so plentiful that the tusks have
long formed a commercial source of suj)ply
for ivory. In more than one instance speci-

10

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

mens of the mammoth, which was simply a
kind of kirge elephant, have been found em-
bedded in the ice-bound soil of the tundras
or morasses of Siberia, having been pre-
served almost entire by the cold. One such
specimen Avas found to be clothed with furry
wool of a reddish colour interspersed with
black hairs, and no doubt all those that in-
habited the more northern parts were pro-
tected by a natural covering of the same
kind. The tusks were of immense size,
being 9 or 10 feet in length measured along
the outer curve, and they had something of
a spiral form, being directed first downward
and outward, then upwards and inwards.
The great Irish elk was found most abun-
dantly in the country from which it gets its
designation, but was also a denizen, though
much rarer, of Scotland and England.

Since Britain then formed part of a large
continental expansion of north-western
Europe, these animals and others had free
access to the country, and could then also
roam through the forests that grew in what
is now the bed of the North Sea. The
rivers of eastern Britain at this time, in-
cluding both those of Scotland and those
of England, had their upper courses much
the same as now; in their lower courses
they joined Avith the Khine, the Weser, and
the Elbe to form a great stream flowing
northwards and emptying itself into the
ocean in the vicinity of the Shetlands. So
also the rivers of the south of England and
of northern France formed a great river
flowing west into the Atlantic ; the Severn
united its waters with the rivers of the
south of Ireland ; while those of the east of
Ireland joined the Dee, Mersey, and other
streams of England and western Scotland,
their waters ultimately reaching the At
lantic at a point beyond the Hebrides.

Another race of men, who also made use
of rude flint implements of the palaiolithic
type, appear to have followed the river-
drift men in Britain. This nevi^ race are
known by the name of "cave-men," from
the fact that the evidences of their existence
in England and on the Continent have been
obtained from the natural caves which
formed their habitations, though it is also
known that certain caves were inhabited

by the river-drift men, as indeed has been
the case with savage peoples down to the
present day. And of couree we need not
suppose that the cave-men lived perpetually
in caves, though they found these to Ije
convenient abodes, and used them as
such generation after generation. It seems
doubtful if these cave-men extended as far
north as Scotland, though the absence of
evidence to show this may be partly owing
to the rarity of caves in the country, and
that again may be explained by the scarcity
of limestone rock in Scotland, this being
the kind of rock in which caves most abound.

The cave-men seem to have been less
widely spread than the men of the river-
drift, since, though they inhabited France,
Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany, they
are not known to have ranged far north or
far south in Europe. One of the most
famous English caverns inhabited by the
cave-men is Kent's Hole near Torquay,
another being the Wookey Hole near Wells,
while others are situated in Wales, in York-
shire, and elsewhere. The implements of
the cave-men were similar on the whole to
those of the river-drift men, but more varied
in character, including, besides flint instru-
ments of the kinds already described, also
bone needles and pins, bone awls or borers,
barbed harpoon-heads of the antlers of deer,
flint arrow-heads and javelin-heads, &c. The
animal remains found along with such im-
plements prove that in England the cave-
man had as his contemporaries the same
species of animals that occupied the country
along with the men of the river-drift. Some
of these animals furnished the cave-men
with food, being objects of the chase, and
the weapons with which they were attacked
were no doubt spears tipped with bone or
flint.

Strange to say, spirited though slight
sketches of hunting scenes, executed by
artists of this remote era, still remain to
challenge our surprise and admiration. One
of these sketches, incised on a piece of deer's
antler, depicts a hunter in the act of throw-
ing a spear at a huge bison or urus which
he has been successful in stalking. Another
scene, engraved on a piece of the same mate-
rial, shows a hunter in the act of felling a

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

11

horse; while two bisons' heads drawn with
remarkable spirit adorn the other side of
this piece of antler. A striking group of
reindeer, a drawing of a single reindeer
feeding with some herbage shown near him.

Reindeer incised on Antlek. (By permission of
Messrs. Macmillan & Co.)

an accurate outline of the cave-bear, the
figure of a seal and another of a pike, both
drawn on the canine of a bear, are also
among the most interesting of those early
works of art. Nor should we omit to men-
tion the dra^ving of a mammoth on a piece
of ivory, giWng a very good idea of this
huge beast. Human figures are less fre-
quently presented than those of animals,
and are less successfidly treated. Among
the cave-men there were also skilfid carvers,
one of the best specimens of their work in
this branch of art being the handle of a
dagger made of a reindeer's antler cleverly
carved into the shape of the animal itself.
Such artistic productions, if they do not
presuppose any very high state of cultiue,
at least argue the existence of a certain
taste and leisure among the cave-men, and
show that the struggle for existence did not
constantly make itself felt.i The general
manner of linng of these people must have
been rude enough, however. For one thing,
it is evident that they had no articles of
pottery, or fragments at least of this almost
imperishable material would have siu'vived.
Their vessels would therefore most natui ally
be rmide of horn, skin, or wood. The only
knives they had must have been made of
flint, pieces of which, as also sea-shells, may

• In reRnrd to this point Sir John Lubbock remarlts:
*' The appreciation of art is to be regarded rather as an
ethnological characteristic than as an indication of any
particular stage in civilization.' -iye/i«(<»i<; Tiiiui, p. 6(>2.

have served as spoons, though the latter
might also be shaped from wood. Their
clothes were no doubt made of furs and
skins sewed together with sinews by means
of bone needles. That they wore gloves is
proved by still extant drawings of these ar-
ticles executed by them. Besides quadru-
peds, birds formed part of their food, being
probably caught in snares, and no doubt
obtained also othenrise; and fish — salmon,
trout, carp, pike, and others — were also
eaten. They had no domestic animals. Fire
was probably obtained by friction as among
savages of the present day.

When we ask what were the ethnological
relationships of the cave-men, or TNith what
I'ace in the modern world they may be con-
nected, the answer is not very clear. Some
authorities do not think they differed
ethnologically from the river-di'ift men,
whatever the affinities of these may have
been ; others have suggested that they were
ancestors of the Laplanders. Professor
Boyd Dawkins thinks they were not ethno-
logicall}' related to the river-drift men, and
believes that there is no race or people
in Europe at the present day which can
be considered to represent them. His
opinion is that there is only one people with
whom the ca\e-men can be looked upon as
closely connected in their manners and
customs, their artistic gifts, and in their
implements generally, this people being the
Eskimos, who now inhabit Greenland and
the extreme north of North America, as
well as jmrt of north-eastern Siberia. He
also di'aws attention to the fact, which at
least forms an interesting coincidence, that
as the musk-sheep or musk-ox was a con-
temporary of the cave-men in Eiu-ope, so it
is only in the country of the Eskimos, their
supposed descendants, that it is to be found
at the present time.

Havuig endea^•oured to give some idea
of what may have l)een the condition of
Scotland during the later geological periods,
we now come to treat of the prehistoric
period more strictlj- so-called. This period,
however distant its beginning may have
been if measured by years, is yet modern
when compared with the periods that have
been already passed under review, and loads

12

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

us dovm without any notable gap to the
beginnings of actual history. How far
back it extended is a question upon which
chronology can throw little or no light, any
attempt at fixing dates being mere guess-
work. In this period man comes to have
a prominence that he did not possess in any
former epoch; and the progress then made
by him in civilization and the arts and
occuimtions that ameliorate life has been
continued onwards to our own day. During
this period we find him to have advanced
from the i^recarious life of the hunter to that
of the herdsman and the farmer. He now
appears also as the trader and the handi-
craftsman, the dweller in fixed abodes con-
structed by himself, the lord and master of
animals reduced by him to a state of de-
pendence and subjection, grain and fruits
being also reclaimed by him from their
natural wild state. In the earliest portion
of the period stone is still the material from
which he fashions his tools and weapons,
metal being unknown, or at least unworked;
but the flint implements we now find in use
are of the neolithic tyjje, polished and finely
finished, very different from the palseolithic
implements of which we have already
spoken. After the lapse of ages bronze
becomes known and utilized, and subse-
quently iron, the introduction of bronze,
and then that of the more ^adely useful
metal, having led to corresponding changes
in the arts and civilization of the peoples
among whom they took place.

These successive changes have formed a
basis for the division of the prehistoric
period, both in Scotland and in other
countries, into the three subdivisions or
ages formerly mentioned, the Stone Age,
the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. This
classification must not be understood to
imply any chronology in the proper sense,
much less one that would be applicable to
all countries alike ; it is only to be regarded
as emphasizing the fact that there has been
a succession of different stages of civilization.
It is evident, indeed, that at the time when,
for instance, in a countrj^ such as Itaty or
Greece, the Iron Age may have commenced,
some of the more northern countries of
Europe may have been in their Bronze Age

and others again still in their Stone Age.
As proof of this we may point to the fact
that the Peruvians were in their Bronze Age
when they became known to Europeans,
while the Polynesians and others, when
they first became known to us, were in
their Stone Age. Moreover this classifica-
tion into three periods does not imply that
in the Bronze Age of any country stone
imjjlements fell entirely out of use (more
esjiecially in the early portion of the period),
nor even that in the Iron Age both bronze
and stone were completely superseded by
iron for all cutting purposes.

In treating successively of the Stone, the
Bronze, and the Iron Age, we have to trust
almost entirely to the guidance of the archajo-
logist, and require comparatively little aid
from the geologist, since during the period
covered by the three ages geological changes
have been comparatively few and unimpor-
tant. Before the Stone Age began, how-
ever, great changes must have taken place,
and Britain, as we have just seen it in the
latter part of the Pleistocene period, was
very diflerent from the Britain of the age
which we have now reached, when the
country, so far as concerned geography,
difi'ered comparatively little from the Britain
of to-day. Before Britain assumed even ap-
jiroximately its present configuration, how-
ever, there must have been a great sinking
of land and submergence of low-lying tracts,
the result of which was that the British Is-
lands became sejaarated from the Continent
and from each other by sea, and the North
Sea, the English Channel, and the Irish Sea
came to occupy the ai-eas that they now re-
spectively cover. The sinking of the land
continued even into the prehistoric period,
and portions of the present British coast
have thus been submerged, as is proved in
particidar by the fact that in certain places
the sea has overflowed forests which can be
shown to be of prehistoric age. In like man-
ner the forests which are known to have
formerly existed in Orkney and Shetland,
Caithness, and elsewhere in Scotland, are
believed to have belonged to a period before
the sinking of the land finally ceased, the
trees having then, it is supposed, been able
to flourish in the localities referred to owing

THE PEEHISTORIC PERIOD.

13

to the greater elevation of the surface and
the consequent distance of the sea and its
blighting influence. The climate of the
country generally in the prehistoric period,
especially in the earlier portion of it, would
probably be damper than in the historic,
owing to the greater prevalence of forests
and morasses; while, from the somewhat
larger area of land existing, there would
probably also be a greater difference between
the temperature of summer and that of
winter. The presence of the reindeer, and
the moose or elk, as far south as the valley
of the Thames, is regarded as evidence of
the same climatic conditions.

Among the animals of the Stone Age of
Britain the two just mentioned seem to have
been more abundant in Scotland than in
England, and no doubt served the inhabits
ants as an important source of food. An-
other animal, rare in Scotland, but remark-
ably abundant in Ireland, was the Irish elk,
a splendid specimen of the deer tribe, with
huge antlers measuring ten or eleven feet in
extent from side to side. Of all the animals
that survived from the former period into
this it is the only one that has since become
entirely extinct. Other animals, however,
that were its contemporaries have become
extinct so far as Britain is concerned, such as
the grisly bear, the bro\vn bear, the wolf, the
wild boar, the elk, the reindeer, the beaver,
and the great wild ox, the unis. The do-
mestic animals belonging to the inhabitants
included the dog, the ox, of the variety
known as the Celtic shorthorn, the sheep,
the goat, and the hog.

The people of the Stone Age in Scotland
are the first inhabitants of this country re-
garding whom we know anything definite.
As they were in the neolithic stage of ci\'i-
lization, possessing implements and weapons
of polished stone, they are often spoken of
as the neolithic people, a term that docs not
imply any theory as to the race to which
they may have belonged. That they be-
longed, however, to a homogeneous race
spread over the whole of Britain is proved
both by the similarity in the weapons,
implements, and ornaments in use through-
out the island during the Stone Age, and
also, and more especially, by the character

of the barrows or gi-ave-mounds constructed
by them for the interment of their dead
alike in Scotland and in England.

These barrows are so important as to
require some special notice. They are struc-
tures of considerable magnitude, the ma-
terials being mostly loose stones piled up,
and others of large size regularly laid in
position. They are constructed with a de-
finite external form and regular ground
plan, and all contain a chamber or series
of connected chambers for recei\'ing the
remains of the dead, who were in many
cases cremated, but in others not. The
most remarkable of these sepulchres, on
account of their magnitude, are those known
as "long barrows," which are believed to
be older than another class designated
" round barrows." The long barrows are
often of what is known as the "horned"
type, ha\'ing projecting horn-like extensions
at either end. These grave-mounds or
cairns usually lie in a direction from east to
west, being higher in the east, and diminish-
ing in height westwards, and they are often
surrounded by a single or double retaining
wall, as it may be called, rising to a certain
height. One of these cairns in Caithness-
shire, examined by Dr. Joseph Anderson,
was found to be 240 feet in length, the
breadth at the base at the eastern end being
66 feet, at the western end 36 feet. The
distance between the tijjs of the eastern
horns or projections was 92 feet, of the
western 53 feet, while the extreme height
was not more than 12. Some of those in
England are larger than this, extending to
300 or 400 feet in length. In this Caith-
ness example there was found to be a
chamber in the eastern end, entered bj' a
narrow passage between the horns, and of
very small dimensions compared with the
size of the whole structure, the length being
only about 12 feet from front to back, the
width 6, and the height 7. Some insigni-
ficant pieces of human bone, chips of flint,
and two fragments of dark-coloured pottery
were all that the chamber contained. Other
cairns on being examined gave similar
results. Some of the horned cairns are
very much shorter, so short indeed that the
ground-plan has somewhat the form of a

14

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

four-pointed star. Perhaps the most re-
markable caii-ns of the period are in the
Orkneys, the most famous of these being
known as Maeshowe, near the Loch of

Stennis. It forms a mound 92 feet in dia-
meter and 36 feet in height, and is sur-
rounded bjr a trench 40 feet wide, and in
some parts 8 feet deep. There is an inter-

SECTION of IIAESHOWE.

nal chamber, now open to the sky, about
15 feet square, to which a passage 54 feet
long gives entrance. Maeshowe appears to
have been broken into by the Norsemen in
the twelfth century, in the expectation of
finding treasure, and it j-ielded nothing of

value to modern explorers. Not a great
deal of light, indeed, has been thrown on the
life of the neolithic people of Scotland by
the relics obtained from these barrows.
The samples of pottery found in such cir-
cumstances consist of vessels made by hand

Plan uf jIaesuowe.

with wide mouths, round bottoms, and
thick lips, well-shaped and ornamented with
fiutings and scorings in straight lines. The
barrows have also yielded flint arrow-heads
and polished stone axes.

Though comparatively few relics of the
Stone Age have been found in connection
with the burials of the people, numerous
examples of their stone implements, wea-
pons, and ornaments have been obtained in
other circumstances. Many have made their
appearance in the operations of ploughing,
cutting drains, digging peats, or the like,
or have been picked up on the surface of
the ground. The whole may be divided into

various classes according to their shapes
and the main uses for which they must
have been intended. Thus besides axes and
arrow-heads we have stone adzes and ham-
mers, spear-heads, knives, saws, borers, and
scrapers. The stone axes and hammers,
again, are either pierced with a hole for the
shaft or more commonly have no such hole,
being thus fixed in some other manner to
the shaft. Those having a shaft-hole are
characterized by greater variety of form
than the others, and are seldom made of
flint, but commonly of granite, gneiss, por-
phyry, basalt, or other hard stone. They
vary greatly in size, and while some have

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

15

an edge at both ends, thus forming a double
axe, a far greater number have but one
edge, while still others have both ends
blunt. Some again have the edge in the
same direction as the shaft -hole; others
have it at right angles, or belong to the
adze type of tool — if indeed they are to
be called tools, and not weapons, as some of
them at least probably were. The larger
specimens are from 7 to 10 or 11 inches in
length,the smallernot
more than 3^. Some
of them are ornament-
ed by incised lines,
and one Scottish spe-
cimen, probably a war
hammer, made of
whitish flint and
highly polished, has
the surface adorned
by lozenge- shaped
facets, though the pat-
tern has been left in-
complete. Another
specimen of the same
kind found in Wales,
with the ornamenta-
tion complete, shows
what this one might
have turned out if the
maker of it had fully
carried out hisdesign.

The Welsh example is beautifully polished
and finished, and the labour and skill spent
upon it must have been enormous. The sur-
face is covered ^vith a sort of network of sepa-
rate facets or compartments, upwards of
two hundred in number, and mostly lozenge-
shaped in outline. All these are hollowed
out to a uniform depth in the centre and
rise towards the edges so regularly as to
be bounded by ridges of exactly the same
height, and all ruiniing accurately in the
direction intended. Though the stone is so
hard that steel will not scratch it, yet all
the details of the ornament are pei'fectly
finished, and the polish of the whole surface
is admirable.

Among the imperforated axes or celts
there are also very Ijeautifid specimens of
workmanshij), the materials used being flint,
porphyry, serpentine, or other hard stone,

and the size extending to upwards of 15
inches in length, and 5 inches across the
cutting face. Some of those made of flint
exhibit a polish and finish equal to any-
thing that the modern lapidary with all his
tools and appliances could turn out. The
finer specimens are believed to have been
weapons rather than tools; others less
highly finished, such as also exist, would
probably be made for purposes of everyday
life. As to the man-
ner in which the im-
perforated axes were
fitted with handles,
there is but little evi-
dence, but we know
that the rude or un-
civilized peoples of
the present day who
use stone implements
have various ways of
getting over this diffi-
culty.

Among the articles
of flint perhaps the

INIEKIOK OF ilAKbUOWE.

ai'row - heads,
"fairies' arrows'
"elf -arrows" of
country people
Scotland, are
most interesting

the
' or
the
of
the
and

remarkable, especi-
ally those of the well-known barbed form,
which must have required extraordinary
dexterity in their fabrication. These arro^i--
heads are usually furnished with a stem
or tang, which was no doubt intended to be
inserted in the cleft end of the .shaft. In-
deed this has been proved by the discovciy
of a specimen so attached in an Aberdeen-
shire moss, the preser^■ative q\ialities of the
peat having jirevented the hard wooden
shaft from complete decay.

Some of the other flint implements dis-
play their character less openly, and those
designated knives, or saws, or borers, for
instance, would hardly strike us at first
sight as being likely tools for their pur-
poses. The knives are flakes of various
shapes, worked so as to present a sharp edge,
and they seem in many cases to have been
intended equally for scraping and for cut-

16

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

ting, though there are also implements that
no doubt were definitely intended for scrap-
ing, and were probably used in the prepa-
ration of skins. Some of the knives pre-
sent much more of a knife-like form than

Stone Hatchets and Flint Akrow-heads.

From the Hunteriau Museum, Glasgow.

others, having the edge ground sharp and
the back rounded. Poor tools as they may
seem, it has been found by actual experi-
ment that astonishing results may be pro-
duced by them with a little skilful manipu-
lation, and in the hands of the trained
workmen of the neolithic age of course the
results would be out of all comparison
superior, both as regards qua.ntity and
quality. As to the methods by which the
implements themselves were fashioned, in
all their perfection of form and finish, these
or many of them seem to be among the
category of lost arts.

From the character of these implements
and weapons, combined with that of the
grave-mounds described above, we may fairly
come to the conclusion that the people from
whom they proceeded were at a much more
advanced stage of cultirre than the palseo-
lithic people, and were far removed from
the condition of mere savages, however
destitute of the many appliances that we
deem essential to civilization. The perfec-
tion of workmanship attained by them over

so refractory a material as flint, though it
may have been the result of ages of practice
and training, and the beauty of form im-
parted to the manufactured articles, seem
almost to argue a gi'eater amount of natural
capacity than if they had taught themselves
how to smelt ores and fashioned their imple-
ments of metal. And if they were so skil-
ful in the manipidation of stone we may
also suppose that they were equally so in
regard to other materials that all nations
have made more or less use of — wood,
bone, and horn — though of this we have
comparatively little evidence. The rearing
of such massive structiu'es as the barrows
tends to prove that they must have lived in
settled communities and carried out their
greater works by combined effort, and this
again suggests that probably agriculture,
and not merely the keeping of flocks and
herds, was to some extent practised. The
civilization of the Stone Age of the Continent
may be adduced as favouring this conclusion,
and also as helping otherwise to complete
the picture of neolithic life. If we know,
for instance, that spinning and weaving, as
well as agriculture, were practised among
the neolithic people of Switzerland, we may
suppose that they were equally so in Britain.
In Scotland during the Stone Age the
state of civilization must have been the
same as in England, judging from the relies
discovered in various localities in the latter
country. At one or two places in England
the manufacture of flint implements on a
large scale seems to have been actively
carried on by neolithic artificers, and strange
to say, one of those places, Brandon in Suf-
folk, is still a seat of the flint manufacture,
gun-flints being made there, and nowhere
else in Britain. The flints are found in the
chalk of this locality, the best at a depth of
nearly 40 feet, and pits have been dug by
the ancient miners so as to reach these,
horizontal galleries being excavated when
the pit was made deep enough. The imple-
ments used in the digging opei'ations were
made of deer's horns, and numbere of them
have been found, some worn out, others
still serviceable. In one case two deer's-
horn picks were found in a gallery, the roof
of which had evidently fallen in while the

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

17

miners were absent, and the tools had never
been recovered. The handle of one of these
was coated with chalk-dust, on which the
print of the miner's hand was quite distinctly
visible. " It was a most impressive sight,"
remarks Mr. Greenwell the discoverer, "and
one never to be forgotten, to look after a
lapse, it may be, of 3000 years upon a piece
of work unfinished with the tools of the
workmen still lying where they had been
placed so many centuries ago." According
to the flint-workers still engaged at this place
further excavation continued in the same
direction would have been unsafe. Another
centre of the flint manufacture was at Ciss-
bury in Sussex, where is a well-known
ancient encampment, and where great
numbers of flint implements in all stages
of manufacture have been found, though it
appears they did not receive their final
polish here.

Since these implements after being made
were distributed throughout the country
from the place of manufacture, it is evident
that commerce, no doubt in the form of
barter, was to some extent carried on. That
navigation also was more or less practised
is evident from the fact that the neolithic
inhabitants of Britain • — unlike those of

Ancient Canoes, found near Olas^-.j'
Drawn by A. D. Kobertson, from his origina

earlier times who could make the passage
by land — must have crossed over from the
Continent in boats. These were no doubt
of the "dug-out" kind, being hollowed out
of a single trunk by fire or the axe. In
Scotland a canoe of this kind, ma;le of oak,
was discovered at a depth of 25 feet in
digging the foundations for St. Enoch's
Church, Glasgow, in the last century. Iii-

jj VOL. I.

side it was a well-finished stone celt, doubts
less one of the axes of the ancient Clyde
ship-builders, with which they were wont to
fashion the oaks of Strathclyde into their
primitive craft. Of the dwellings of the
neolithic people we know nothing, but we
may conjecture that they were mostly slight
structiu'es of wood, and probably wattle-
work formed part of their materials. Pos-
sibly natural caves may have been used as
dwellings, where they were available, and
for winter-abodes excavations may have
been made in the earth.

An excellent idea of what we may con-
ceive to have been the picture presented in
many parts of Britain during this age will
be obtained from the following imaginative
sketch of the neolithic homestead, by Prof.
Boyd Dawkins : — " If we could in imagina-
tion take a stand on the summit of a hill
commanding an extensive ^aew of almost
any part of Great Britain or Ireland in the
neolithic period, we should look upon a
landscape somewhat of this kind. Thin
lines of smoke rising from among the trees
of the dense virgin forest at our feet would
mark the position of the neolithic home-
stead, and of the neighboiuing stockaded
camjj which aff'orded refuge in time of need ;
while here and there a
gleam of gold would show
the small patch of ripen-
ing wheat. AVe enter a
track in the forest and
thread our way to one of
the clusters of homestead.s,
passing herds of goats and
flocks of horned sheep, or
disturbing a troop of horses
or small short - horned
oxen, or stumbling uj)on
^i.^j^,j a swine-herd tending the

hogs in their search after
roots. We should probably have to de-
fend ourselves against the attack of some
of the large dogs, used as guardians of tlie
flock against bears, wolves, and foxes, and
for hunting the wild animals. At last on
emerging into the clearing, we should see
a little plot of flax or small-eared wheat,
and near the homestead the inhabitants,
clad some in linen and others in skins, and

18

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

ornamented with necklaces and pendants
of stone, bone or pottery, carrying on their
daily occupations. Some are cutting wood
with stone axes with a wonderfully sharp
edge, fixed in wooden handles, with stone
adzes and gouges, or with little saws com-
posed of carefully notched pieces of flint
about 3 or 4 inches long, splitting it with
stone wedges, scraping it with flint flakes.
Some are at work preparing handles for the
spears, shafts for the arrows, and wood for
the bows or for the broad paddles used for
propelling the canoes. Others are busy
grinding and sharpening the various stone
tools, scraping skins with instruments
ground to a circidar edge, or carving various
implements out of bone and antler with
sharp splinters of flint, while the women
are preparing the meal with pestles and
mortars and grain rubbers, and cooking it
on the fire, generally outside the house, or
spinning thread with spindle and distaff, or
weaving it with a rude loom. AYe might
also have seen them at work at the mould-
ing of rude cups and vessels out of clay
which had been carefully prepared."'

The question to what race of people these
ancient inhabitants of Scotland belonged,
and whether they can be assigned to any
race still existing or known to have existed
is a very difhcult one. Some who have
closely studied the subject, however, believe
that they belonged to a race at one time
widely spread in western and south-western
Europe — the Iberian race namely, or that
of which the Basques are the modern repre-
sentatives. The Basques or Biscayans, as

lit will be instructive to compare the above with the
following account of the Andaman islanders, an interesting
race of people who were quite recently in their Stone
Age. and ignorant of the use of metals. The particulars
were brought forward by Prof. Max Miiller in an address
delivered at the Cardiff meeting of the British Association
in 1891, Prof. Miiller being president of the anthropological
section of the Association, and quoting as his authority an
English officer, Mr- Horace Man :— " Before the introduction
into the islands of what is called European civilization {says
Mr. Man) the inhabitants lived in small villages, their dwell-
ings built of branches and leaves of trees. They were
ignorant of agriculture, and kept no poultry or domestic
animals. Their pottery was hand-made, their clothing very
scanty. They were expert swimmers and divers, and able to
manufacture well-made dug-out canoes and outriggers.
"niey were ignorant of metals, ignorant, we are told, of pro-
ducing fire, though they kept a constant supply of burning
and smouldering wood. They made use of shells for their
tools, had stone hammers and anvils, bows and arrows, har-
poons tor killing turtle and fish. Such Is the fertility of the

is well known, dwell at the western ex-
tremity of the Pj'renees, partly in France,
but chiefly in Spain, in which country they
occujDy the provinces of Biscay, Alava, and
Guipuzcoa. They form a distinct nation-
ality from the Spaniards, and speak a lan-
guage which stands quite apart from all
others so far as philologists have been able
to determine. Thej' are considered to be
the descendants of the ancient Iberi, who
are kno\\Ti to have inhabited the Spanish
peninsula long before the beginning of the
Christian era, and who were afterwards
swamped or sujijilanted by other incoming
peoples, an influx of the Celts, for instance,
giving rise to the mixed race known as the
Celtiberi, whom the Eomans found it so
hard to subdue. Ethnologists have arrived
at the conclusion that a Basque or Iberian
of the genuine type is to be described as
a man of low stature, dark in complexion,
with black hair and eyes, and having a
skull of what is called the dolichocephalic
form — that is, long when measured from
front to back as compared with its breadth
in a direction transverse to this. Among
the present inhabitants of Spain, France,
and Britain, many persons are to be met
v\ith whose physical features are said to
corre.si30nd to those here stated, and this,
it is believed, is owing to an D)erian ele-
ment in the population of the resjaective
countries. A preponderance of the Basque
or Iberic element, that is of persons with
black hair and eyes and swarthy com-
plexions, may be observed, it appears, in
the majority of the French departments

island that they have abundance and variety of food all the
year round- Their food was Invariably cooked, they drank
nothing but water, and they did not smoke. People may
call this a savage life. I know many a starving labourer
who would gladly exchange the benefits of European civili-
zation for the blessings of such savagery." They are de-
cidedly a small race of people, the average height among
them being 4 feet 105 inches. Bigamy, polygamy, poly-
andry, and divorce are unknown among them ; women are
treated with respect and consideration ; cannibalism or
infanticide are practices never heard of. They ace natu-
rally truthful and honest, generous and self-denying, but
contact with European civilization has not improved them
morally. Their food, before they became acquainted with
European customs, used to be of the most miscellaneous
character, including roots, fruits, bats, rats, lizards, sea-
snakes, molluscs, turtle, fish, wild pig, and the larvse of
beetles. They believe in a Supreme Being who created the
whole world (except the powers of evil), who has a house
in the sky, knows all things, even the thoughts of the heart,
and is displeased with wrong-doing.

THE PEEHISTOEIC PERIOD.

19

lying between the Garonne and Loire, as
well as in Brittany; and though the skull
is generally broader among the natives of
this region than that assigned to the typical
Iberian, this is explained by the supposition
that there has been an infusion of the Celtic
element. A people of similar characteristics
have been described as inhabiting the Wal-
loon provinces of Belgium, and also as exist-
ing in South Germany. A strong Iberic
infusion is said to be observable in Wales,
where the small dark-complexioned mem-
bers of the community may be looked upon
as descendants of the ancient Silures, whose
resemblance to the Iberians was referred to
by Tacitus. Much the same holds good in
regard to the south-western counties and
some of the midland counties of England;
the highlands and islands of Scotland, where
the small and dark people of Iberian type
live side by side with others of a very dif-
ferent type;i and the south-west of Ireland.
That the neolithic inhabitants of Britain
belonged to the Iberic race is believed on
the evidence of skulls and skeletons which
have come down to us from neolithic times.
The skulls are of the long or dolichocephalic
type, and the skeletons represent a race
whose stature varied between 4 feet 9 or 10
inches, and 5 feet 5 or 6 inches; so that as
regards shape of skull, a very permanent
and important characteristic, and as regards
bodily stature there is entire agreement
with the Basque type already described.
Other physical features characteristic of the
neolithic race were: an oval face, an aquiline
nose, the ridges over the eyebrows and the
cheek-bones not specially prominent, and
the upper and lower jaws both small. The
evidence of the human remains, and the
localities in which they have been found,

1 Elton, in his Origins of English History (2d edition, p. 136),
gives the following quotation from Campbell's West High-
land Tales aa illustrative of this point, the passage having
reference to the people of Barra : " Behind the flre sat a girl
with one of those strange foreign faces which are occa-
sionally to be seen in the Western Isles, a face which re-
minded me of the Nineveh sculptures, and of faces seen in
St Sebastian. Her hair was black as night, and her clear
dark eyes glittered through the peat smoke. Her com-
plexion was dark, and her features so unlike tliose who sat
about her, that I asked if she were a native of the island,
and learned that she was a Highland girl." A committee
of the British Association pnuinunced in ISS.** that tlie short
dark type— titherwise called the long-barrow type— cer-
tainly exists In the population at the present time, olfering

quite confirm what has been already stated,
that the population of our islands was uni-
form and homogeneous in the neolithic
period. Similar remains prove that the
same race was widely spread on the Con
tinent, being found in Belgium, France, and
Spain, as far south as Gibraltar. Sir Daniel
Wilson gives detailed measui'ements of
twenty-two skulls of the neolithic type, half
of them found in Scotland, and a certain
number being from the chambered cairns
already described. One of the skulls, that
of a young man found in Banchory Deven-
ick in Kincardineshire in 1822, has a hole
nearly circular and upwards of an inch in
diameter on the top of the head, "caused, it
may be presumed, by the blow of a stone
axe which abruptly closed the career of its
owner."

The Stone Age, or neolithic period, came
to an end only after the lapse of unnum-
bei'ed ages, ages for the computation of
which no trustworthy data are available.
The bronze period now began, in which a
new phase of civilization prevailed, and
implements and ornaments of metal super-
seded those of stone, the metal employed
for useful purposes being bronze, while
gold was largely used for ornament, and
iron was as yet unknown. By this time we
find also that a new race has made its a])-
pearance in Britain, if not indeed more than
one race. Skulls of a diffei'ent tyi)e from
those already described are now to be met
with, proving that the population is no
longer homogeneous, but made up of more
than one element. The skulls here referred
to are of what is called the bmchijcephalic
type, that is they are relatively shorter or
rounder than those of the other type when
measured from front to back; and the

a marked contrast to the other chief types, and agreeing in
stature, lightness of frame, narrowness of skull, and fine
osseous features generally, with tlic skeleton remains found
in the early barrows. The other chief t)-pes distinguisheil
by the committee are the round-barrow type (see below),
and the Saxon type, otherwise designated respectively as
the brachycephalic or sub-lirachycephalic fair type, and the
sub-dolichocephalic fair type. Of these the dinner (which
is the taller) includes Belgic, Cymric. "Od Danish varieties ;
the latter is the pure German or Teul<inic We may also
mention here that a series of measurements carried out
under the auspices of Uie British Association, established
the fact that among the inhabitants of the Hritisli Islands,
the Scotch stand tlrst in height (as also in weight), the Irish
second, the Englisli ihinl. the Welsli last (secoml in weight)

20

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

people possessed of this form of skull ap-
pear ultimately to have entirely over-mas-
tered or absorbed the earlier long-headed
race. These brachycephalic skulls have
been found in graves and grave-mounds all
over Scotland, but the round sepulchral
mounds or cairns of this period, built chiefly
of earth, are ^'ery different from the cham-
bered mounds or cairns of the preceding
period. Some of the skulls show a certain
flattening of the occiput or hinder part of
the head, which Sir Daniel Wilson attributes
to the same cause as that which produces a
corresponding featm-e in the skulls of the
North American Indians, namely, the use
of a cradle-board, or flat board on which the
infants are fastened down to be nursed and
carried about by their mothers. As the
infant is laid flat on its back upon this
board, and somewhat tightly bandaged down
in that position, pressure on the soft bones
of the skull at last produces a marked and
permanent effect on its shape.

According to some authorities the round-
headed people who intruded on the long-
headed Iberian people previously established
in the country belonged to the Celtic race,
though others believe that a Finnish people,
or a people of uncertain affinities, preceded
the Celtic invaders of Britain, and that this
early invasion took place towards the end
of the Stone Age. Whether this be so or
not, it is well known that at a period, for
which we can assign no date, Celts crossed
over from the Continent to Britain, and
finally spread over the whole or at least the
greater part of the British Islands. The
Celts, unlike the Iberians, are akin to several
of the races that have played a great part
in the history of the world. Their language
marks them as belonging to the Aryan or
Indo-European family, and thus allies them
to the Germanic or Teutonic peoples, to the
ancient Greeks and Eomans and their mo-
dern descendants, to the Kussians and other
Slavonians, to the Persians and a certain
portion of the native inhabitants of India.
The Celts had formerly a much more im-
portant position in Europe as a distinct
people than they have had since the begin-
ning of the Christian era, the increase and
spread of other nationalities having borne

so hard upon them that they have been
pushed to the most westerly parts of Europe,
and are now only found speaking their
own national tongues in a small portion of
France, in Wales, the Highlands and West-
ern Islands of Scotland, the Isle of Man,
and in a small part of Ireland. Where
the original home of the Celts was situated
we do not know, but at one time they
possessed a considerable portion of what
is now Germany, spread themselves over
France and a great part of Spain, while
bodies of them devastated northern Italy,
marched into Macedonia and Greece, and
even crossed over into Asia Minor. So
far as we can trace their history they have
always been divided into two sections dis-
tinguished from each other by certain lin-
guistic peculiarities. The one section or
division is known as the Goidelic, the other
as the Brythonic; and while the first now
embraces the Gaels or Highlanders of Scot-
land, the Manx and the Irish Celts, the
second includes the Welsh, the Bretons,
and the Celts of Cornwall. The correspond-
ing tongues are the Gaelic, Manx, and Irish,
between which there are comparatively
slight differences, and the Welsh, Breton
or Ar-moric, and Cornish, which share very
considerable divergencies among themselves.
It is generally believed that the Celts who
first entered Britain belonged to the Goidelic
group, and that at some succeeding period
these were followed by Brythonic Celts,
who pushed the earlier settlers into the
remoter parts of the island, and perhaps
then first brought about the Celtic coloniza-
tion of Ireland. In regard to the treatment
and fate of the aboriginal Iberian popula-
tion at the hands of the invaders we are
entirely in the dark.

The use of bronze and the beginning of
the Bronze Age in Scotland probably dates
from the Celtic invasion of the country.
If the Celts when they arrived were armed
with weapons of bronze, an alloy with
which they must have become acquainted
at an early period by coming in contact with
more advanced peoples further to the east
or south, the conquest over foes armed only
with stone weapons would be comparatively
easy. The incomers, doubtless, would also

i

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

21

have a superiority in regard to many of the
arts and occuijations of life, through the
use of metal instead of stone; and from the
testimony of the remains belonging to the
Bronze Age we learn
that quite a different
phase of cultiu-e now
prevailed in Scotland.
With regard to the
funeral observances of
the people of this pe-
riod, there is one fea-
ture that seems invari-
able, namely, the de-
position of some ar-
ticle or instrument of bronze axe axu celts (i
bronze in the grave
along with the remains
of the dead. These objects of bronze are
chiefly flat axes, thin flat knives or dagger-
blades, pins and heavy rings, besides which
there are such non-metallic objects as beads
and necklaces of jet or cannel-coal, an-ow-
heads and knives of flint, &c. The body

Two Stone Moulds for Celts,
Found on a moor in the parish of RoMkeen, Ross-shire.

The urns associated with those burials are
of various shapes and sizes, and though
made by hand and not with the wheel, are
often elegant in form and pleasingly orna-
mented with straight
and zigzag lines. Some
of them are verj- small,
not more than 2 inches
in height, while others
reach a height of 15
inches or more. In
many cases the burials
of the Bronze Period
are commemorated by
a remarkable ring or
circle of standing
stones surrounding the
area in which the
interments have been made. Some of these
circles consist of huge boulders that have
simply been rolled into their places in the
circle to which they belong, while others
are formed of tall slabs set erect on their
ends and firmly fixed in the soil. Some-

The Rino of Bkoqak and Stones of Stennis, Island of Fomona, Orkney.

itself was cither burned and the ashes buried
in an urn, or it was buried unbuincd, the
grave being a cist or rude coffin formed of
rough stones surrounding the body. A
cairn was often raised over the urn or cist,
being a simple heap of stones or earth, not
containing any regularly built chamber as
in the neolithic barrows. A natural mound
or hillock was often selected as the place of
burial, and burned and unburned remains
are often found biu'ied in the same mound.

times there is a trench, or a trench and
embankment, outside the stone circle, and
sometimes the circle is double. Among
the most remarkable is the stone circle at
Stennis in Orkney, which has a diameter
of 36 feet, and is surrounded by a trench
29 feet wide and 6 feet deep, the height of
the tallest of the stones still standing being
14 feet. Another remarkable circle and
series of monumental stones is at Callerni.^h
in the Island of Lewis.

22

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Among the immense numbers of weapons
and other articles of bronze which have been
found all over Scotland, many of them de-
posited in a hoard together, we may mention
swords, daggers, spear-heads, axes, shields,
chisels, gouges, fish-hooks, sickles, caldrons,
anvils, buckles, pins, rings, &c. The articles
found in hoards, in which they had probably
been stowed for concealment, are fine in
make, heavier, and altogether more elaborate
than those found in the graves, and belong
probably to a
more advanced
period of the age
of bronze.

The bronze
swords are broad-
ish weapons, of
the form called
" leaf - shaped,"
thatistheywiden
out to some ex-
tent just before
they taper to-
wards the point, J'''^'^"- ^"^ARHKADS, SW,„;i

'■ ' in Sc

the blade hav-
ing its greater breadth about a third of the
total length from the point, and widening
out again towards the hilt. They were in-
tended for thrusting, not for cutting and
parrying, and they are not furnished with a
guard for the hand. The hilt portion is
usually pierced with holes, evidently for
receiving rivets, by which pieces of bone,
horn, or wood were attached so as to give
a satisfactory grasp. In size they vary con-
siderably; but the largest known sjiecimen
has a length of 28i inches. They have
been made by casting the bronze in moulds,
and are all in one j)iece. The dagger-blades
are broad, thick, and heavy, of a somewhat
triangular shape, -with a stout midrib or
ridge running from heel to point. The
handle was attached to these blades by
rivets, and some of them were probably
fitted axe-wise to their handles so as to form
a kind of halberd or war-pick. The spear-
heads are of considerable size, some of them
solid, others formed with loops or open-
ings, and generally they are furnished with
a socket to receive the end of the shaft.
Like the swords and dagger-blades they were

cast in moulds of stone, some of which still
exist; and it has been remarked that "the
coring of their sockets for the reception of
their shafts would do credit to the most
skilful modern founder." The shields are
circular in form and are made of a thin
plate of beaten bronze, being ornamented
with concentric ridges having rows of small
bosses between them.

The axes of the Bronze Period vary con-
siderably in their form, but the cutting edge
has usually a
well-marked con-
vex curve, and is
long as compared
vriih the width
of the head. The
latter is not
pierced horizon-
tally with a hole
for receiving the
helve or haft, as
is the case with
our axes, other
modes of con-

:iuiui.

necting axe and
handle being adopted. In some cases ihe
head has a socket sunk perpendicularly into
it, this socket being intended no doubt to re-
ceive the bent end of a wooden haft, while
it is often furnished with a projecting loop
through which some kind of cord or fasten-
ing went to attach the haft more firmly. In
another form of axe-head there are flanges or
raised pieces at right angles to the flat of the
axe, and the head of the weapon or imple-
ment in this case was probably fitted into the
split end of the handle, which most likely
would have a sharp bend at the extremity
to render it suitable for the purpose. A
stout branch with a short stump left pro-
jecting near the extremity might form a
handle for such an axe, the stump being
split to receive the thin axe-head. Other
axes are quite flat, so that it must have been
rather difficult to attach them securely to
a handle. As in the case of the spear-heads
stone moulds for the casting of axes have
been repeatedly found, some of them con-
sisting of two separate halves which could
be fastened together in the operation.
The discovery of bronze sickles in Scot-

THE PKEHISTOEIC PERIOD.

23

land is interesting, as affording undoubted
evidence of the cultivation of grain crops at
this early period, though how the grain was
utilized is not so certain, since no quern or
other grinding apparatus undoubtedly of the
Bronze Age has as yet been found in Scot-
land. Perhaps it was parched over the fire
and eaten after being crushed or poimded;
or it may have been boiled and eaten like
rice. Large caldrons made of thin bronze
plates riveted together have been discovered
in several places, and are among the most
noteworthy relics of the period, though it
is not known for what purpose they were
specially intended. Such vessels, however,
would evidently be useful for various pur-
poses, and perhaps more especially as re-
ceptacles for grain.

In some respects even more interesting
and instructive than any of the above relics
are the articles worn for personal adorn-
ment by the people of the Bronze Age.
Among these the ornaments made of gold

Gold Arjiiet.— Found in the Moor of Eannoch.

deserve the first place, the most numerous
class of which are armlets and necklets of
the solid metal. They are of several patterns,
but are commonly penaninilar in form, that
is, they are bent round into the form of
a ring, but the circle is left incomplete,
the two ends not being united. While some
of these are plain cylindrical hoops, others
show riljs or angles, and they may also have
small rings or bands of the same precious
metal twisted round them. A third class
again have been formed of a flat band taper-
ing towards either end, and twisted so as to
have much the appearance of the thread of
a screw, the two ends being bent so as to
hook into each other. One very fine arm-
let was formed of three gold wires twisted

together in the manner of a cord and united
into a solid piece at each end, the whole
being bent into a spiral, so that four com-
plete coils would encircle the arm. The
total length of this beautiful armlet when
uncoiled was 4i feet. Such an ornament
as this one would think would of itself
stamp the wearer as a person of consequence
among his fellows. Gold diadems or lunettes,
a class of ornaments of a crescent shajje,
have also been rejaeatedly found. They are
made of beaten gold and suited for wearing
either on the head or on the neck. Very
valuable hoards of articles have come to
light at various times, and many more have
no doubt been discovered and quietly dis-
posed of without the public being any the
■\viser. Some of the objects made of gold
that have come down to us from this period
are surprisingly massive. Thus three arm-
lets found in the parish of Kirkuid,
Peeblesshire, are said to have weighed about
8 J ounces each, the value of the three being
about £110.^ Rings and armlets of bnmze
were also worn, as well as necklaces of jet
and amber, while buttons of jet, and bronze
pins with large flat circular heads, were
also in use.

Such were the weapons, implements, and
other articles in use among the people of
the Bronze Age, and from them we are able
to form some idea of the mode of life that
then prevailed in Scotland ; but it must be
remembered that the evidence is natiu-ally
very imperfect, and that the absence of
many an object from the comparatively
meagre list of Bronze Age relics hitherto
known does not prove that such objects
were not quite common in the period of
which we have been discussing. For in-
stance, we possess little actual evidence
regarding the clothing or dwellings of the
people, yet we can hardly doubt that the
rich and powerful at least, those who could
affoid to wear the ornaments above spoken
of, would be dressed in some mode in har-
mony with those ornaments and with the
exigencies of the Scottish climate. We

1 Sluch more vtilnable hoards tlinn this have lurneil »J>,
however, in England, Ireland, and Franco In EnRland.
for instance, a lioard found in Sussex weighed over 11 llj ,
while one found near Newmarket, county Clare, Is reported
to have been worth £6000.

24

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

have evidence to show that in England
duiing the Bronze Period garments of linen
and woollen were worn ; and as the state of
civilization disclosed by the relics was
evidently in other respects similar all over
Britain, we may assume that the same kinds
of clothing were worn in Scotland as in
England. Of course skins would also form
part of the dress of the people in addition
to woven fabrics. As regards dwellings, if
there are none extant in Scotland that can
definitely be assigned to the Bronze Age,
we may be sure that a people possessed of
good bronze axes, chisels, gouges, and other
tools would be quite competent to construct
substantial abodes of timber, while wattle-
work, clay, and stone would probably be also
more or less employed. Of their pottery we

Urns in differeut styles btlo

; to the Bronze Period.

possess numerous examples in the urns or
clay -vessels found so commonly in connec-
tion wth burials, as already mentioned, and
also met with in other circumstances. These,
we may remark, are rarely provided with
handles, but in one case at least a clay mug
with a handle has been found in Scotland,
while such are not uncommon in England.
In another case a horn-spoon was found
resting in a clay vessel.

For domestic animals the people of this
age had the horse, ox, sheep, and hog, which
would yield them a part of their food, an-
other part being furnished by animals of the
chase, as the stag, roe, reindeer, wld boar,
and hare, while grain, as we have seen, woidd
also serve to diversify their diet. The
bronze reaping-hooks already referred to
seem to have been of the kind anciently used
among the Greeks and Romans for reaping
their crops by cutting off the ears of the
grain. Oxen were probably used in plough-
ing, the horse for riding and driving. The
use of the bronze axe, besides giving the

Bronze Age people many advantages overthe
neolithic people who had only an axe of
stone, in particular would greatly assist in
clearing off forest and brushwood to make
room for crops or pasture. Fire was ob-
tained by striking a flint against a piece of
iron pyrites, though the more primitive me-
thod of producing it by friction might also
continue to be employed.

The skill of the Bronze Age people in
metal-working is sufficiently attested by the
character of the objects above noticed, all
of which are not only well made so far as
mere workmanship is concerned, but are
also well-proportioned and gi-aceful in de-
sign. And the people were as much at
home in the art of casting as in tui'ning
out fine hammered work, of which latter
branch the bronze caldrons and shields fur-
nish us with admii'able specimens.

It has also recently been discovered that
the art of soldering metals was not un-
known, several hollow gold rings made up
of pieces soldered together having been
found at Balmashanner, in Forfarshire, in
1892, forming part of a hoard of articles
clearly belonging to this period. One of
these was a small globular vessel of cast
bronze, of a type not elsewhere known in
Britain. Such discoveries lead to the hope
that much fresh light on the Scotland of the
Bronze Age may yet be obtained.

Whence the people obtained their supply
of metals is doubtful, though we know, of
course, that gold at least is found in Scotland
as well as in Wales and Ireland, while tin and
copper, the ingredients of bronze, have been
worked in England from a remote period.
Among the localities in which copper is found
in England may be mentioned Cornwall,
Devon, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Ciunberland,
and Westmoreland ; and it is also obtained
in several of the counties of Wales. Tin is
much less common in the British area, Corn-
wall, and to a less extent Devonshire, being
almost the only localities yielding it. On
the Continent copper ore is abundant in
various places, and more especially so in
Sjaain, where it has long been smelted. Tin
has also been worked from an early period
in Spain, France, and several localities of
Central Europe. The art of making bronze

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

25

and articles in bronze first arose, it is be-
lieved, in some part of Western Asia, whence
it spread to Southern Europe, and then to
the rest of the continent and the British
Isles. It had no doubt been long in use
among the Phrenicians before the tin and
copper mines of Spain and Britain were
worked. The bronze would probably be
introduced into Scotland from the south, at
first in the shape of manufactured articles.
Subsequently lumps or ingots of the alloy
would probably be imported, such as have
been discovered in France, Germany, and
Scandinavia.

Whether the inhabitants of Scotland them-
selves fused together the separate metals
in the proper proportions for forming the
alloy we cannot say, but that they were
well acquainted with casting and working
bronze, and had among them bronze-smiths
as a separate class of craftsmen, there can
be no doubt. In reference to this sub-
ject Dr. Joseph Anderson remarks: " That
these objects were manufactured within the
country is apparent from two circumstances :
(1) that in many cases they exhibit special
varieties of form which are peculiar to Scot-
land; and (2) that the moulds themselves
are found in the soil in which the objects
are found. The moulds which have been
found are cut in stone. They are skilfidly
made and can still be used to cast from.
Some of them, such as those for rings, knife-
blades, and flat axe-heads are open moulds ;
while others, such as those for spear-heads
and looped and socketed axe-heads, are
double, closed moulds, made in two moieties,
which are dowelled together in casting, and
are capable of being fitted with cores. The
hammered work of the period was equally
skilful. The large globidar caldrons formed
of plates of bronze beaten almost as thin as
sheets of paper, riveted together and orna-
mented with studs, are really beautiful
works of industrial art; and I venture to
say that nothing finer than these bronze
shields has ever been produced by the ham-
mer."

From whatever source the people of Scot-
land obtained their bronze, or the copper
and tin from which to make it, and whether
they got their gold in their own country or

from outside its bovmdaries, it is evident
that the existence of metallic articles in such
abundance, and spread over such an exten-
sive area as that in which they have been
found, implies a considerable traffic and in-
terchange of commodities, and a stage of
progi'ess in regard to commercial intercourse
quite in keeping with the progress made in
the industrial arts. This traffic would almost
certainly be by barter, as we can hardlj'
suppose that there would be a circulating
medium of any kind in Scotland during the
Bronze Age.

That war was equally well known -with
the arts of peace is sufficiently proved by
the abundance of warlike weapons that have
come down to us. Probably the people were
diWded into numerous tribes, between which
hostilities were apt to break out. Man}' of
the rude hill-forts so common in Scotland
may belong to the Bronze Period, but of this
there is no sufficient evidence.

With regard to the religious notions and
the general intellectual culture of the people
of this age we are naturally quite in the
dark. That they had great respect for their
dead is clear from the ceremonial and ac-
companiments with which interments were
earned out, from the care with which the
deceased were burned and their remains col-
lected in a funeral urn, from the fact that
valuable goods were deposited in the grave,
and that a cairn and group of monumental
stones were in so many cases erected to mark
the place of sepulture. Most probably these
grave-goods were not deposited along with
the remains of the dead without the hope
or belief that they would prove useful in a
future life to the persons thus honourably
interred.

The stone circles or gi-oups of stones ac-
companying some of the Bronze Age places
of burial have often been regarded as con-
nected with some ancient pagan form of
worship, especially with that attributed to
the Druids; and Professor Boyd Dawkins,
among modern authorities, is in favour of
the view that these are really heathen
temples. Speaking of Stonehcnge and Ave-
bury, the two chief monuments of this kind
in Britain, he says : "These two great temples
of an unknown worship represent the Can-

26

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

terbmy Cathedral or Westminster Abbey of
the period, while the smaller circles to be
found scattered over the moors and hilltops
in the south of England, in Wales and Cum-
berland, as well as in Scotland, are to be
looked upon as the parish churches and
chapels of ease. It has been urged by Mr.
Fergusson, in his interesting work on Rude
Stone Monuments, that these circles are
merely tombs. Even if we allow that they
were originally tombs in every case, it does
not follow that they have not also been
temples, for the religious sentiment has in
all ages and in all places tended to centre
in tombs which ultimately have become
places of worship. Many of our Christian
churches have originated in this manner,
and it is a most obvious transition from the
tomb to the temple."^ However this may
be, there is certainly nothing whatever to
connect them ■Nnth the Druidic rites or
worship.

With the conclusion of the Bronze Age
we enter upon the Iron Age, and this,
though it begins in the prehistoric period,
in due course brings us into the historic
period. The date at which the Iron Age
began in Scotland was probably two or
three centuries before the beginning of the
written history at the Roman invasion, and
was no doubt later than the beginning of
the Iron Age in England, and still later
than its beginning in France. In Scand-
inavia the Bronze Age lasted into the
Christian era, while in the Grecian world,
on the other hand, as depicted in the
Homeric poems, we see it dying out eight
or nine centuries earlier.- Where the know-
ledge of smelting iron first arose it would
be difficult to say, but that it reached
Britain from Gaul is certain. The ancient
Gauls are spoken of as having swords of

1 Sir Daniel Wilson is inclined to refer Stonehenge to the
Iron Age rather than to that of Bronze.

2 Though the Homeric poems depict Greek life at a time
when bronze was being superseded and supplemented by
iron, it would no doubt be vei-y hazardous to seek suggestions
from Homer as to what may have been the condition of
society in Scotland when the Bronze Age was being suc-
ceeded by the Iron Age in this country. Xevertheless some
of the scenes so vividly set before us in these old poems
may very well have been paralleled in prehistoric Scotland.
Here, too, might perhaps have been witnessed occasions
such as are described in the Odyssey, where, for instance,
a boar is taken and felled with a billet of wood, his throat

iron several centuries before the Christian
era, and when CiEsar invaded Britain he
found the metal well known in the country,
where by this time it was probably smelted.
The large swords without points described
by Tacitus, as used by the Caledonians,
were undoubtedly of iron, and the metal
was doubtless also used in the construction
of their war-chariots. In Scotland, how-
ever, there was no sudden change from
bronze to iron. The latter metal must have
been rare and expensive at first, and the
two metals were employed side by side — as
indeed they still are — though the superiority
of iron for weapons and cutting-tools would
speedily make itseK felt, and cause the dis-
use of bronze for these purposes. The use
of iron thus did not introduce any immedi-
ate change in the state of civilization in
Scotland, and the arts and industries, the
burials and other customs, remained much
as before, probably till the introduction of
Christianity. So far was the use of bronze
from being given up, that the most interest-
ing remains of the prehistoric Iron Age in
Scotland consist of objects made of this
alloy. For iron, it must be remembered, is
so readily oxidizable that articles formed
of it, unless preserved by specially favour-
able circumstances, moulder away, and all
but disappear in course of time. Hence
objects made of iron, and dating from the
prehistoric period, are comparatively rare,
though a certain number of ii'on swords,
daggers, knives, bosses for the centre of
shields, and a few other objects have come
down to modei'n times.

Among the relics belonging to the Iron
Age it is often difficult to distinguish those
that are strictly prehistoric, but many can
at any rate be set down as distinctly pre-
Christian, and some as exhibiting artistic

cut, and the carcass singed, the whole being then divided
into pieces which are roasted on spits and served up on
trenchers. Or where & man is described as roasting apauncli
filled with fat and blood (the prototype of the Scotch haggis,
shall we say?), and turning it about at a great fire that it
may be sufficiently cooked. Or a quarrel may have arisen
at a feast, and a choleric Caledonian may have caught up
an ox's foot froni a dish, and hurled it at the head of
a neighbour, as was done to llysses by one of the un-
welcome wooers of his wife Penelope. The general state
of society described in the Homeric poems, however, was
no doubt much higher than in Scotland at the period
referred to.

THE PEEHISTORIC PEEIOD.

27

features special to the Celtic art in Scotland
while paganism still prevailed. It is note-
worthy that we now find coloured enamels
employed in the ornamentation of articles
in bronze, more especially bronze armlets,
bridle-bits, and horse-trappings. The Celts
of Britain at this period, indeed, seem to have
held the foremost place in the art of enamel-
ling,.some of their
productions be-
ing unique in
character. Mas-
sive bronze arm-
lets, ornamented
in a style of art
specially Celtic,
and specially
characteristic of
eai-ly Scotland,
are well known,
especially some
that have as the
basis of their de-
sign a coiled
double - headed
serpent. These
in particular pos
soss technical and
artistic merit of
a rare kind, and
would deserve
equally high
praise though
they were the prutluctions of the present
day. Among the most curious oljjects that
have come down from this period one is a
kind of mask of thin beaten bronze, with
two curved cylindrical tapering horns pro-
jecting in front, while another is an object
evidently intended to represent the head of
a boar, and also made of thin plates of
beaten bronze.

Hitherto wo have not had occasion to
describe any structure which may have
been employed, either tempoiarily or per-
manently, as a residence or shelter by the
inhabitants of Scotland. There are cert^iin
structures, however, belonging to early
Scotland of which we nuist give some
account, more especially as it is only in
recent times that they have been investi-
gated with any completeness. Four classes

Ancient Lake-lwelungs— restored.

of these are known, namely. Lake-dwellings,
Hill-forts, Brochs, and Earth-houses. It is
doubtful how far back the origin of some
among the examples of each class should
be placed. Probably many of the lake-
dwellings and hill-forts belong to prehistoric
times, and all the four classes of structures
may be looked upon as at least dating from
the pre-Chri-stian
period of Scot-
land, and as be-
longing to the
unwritten his-
tory of the coun-
try.

The lake-dwel-
lings, or crannogs
as they are also
called, were struc-
tures that, for the
security of the
I iccupants, were
erected in lakes
al some distance
from the shore,
a foundation be-
ing first prepared
1 ly driving in
jiiles and tying
them together
Avith cross-beams,
or by heaping up
logs, trunks of
trees, brushwood, stones, claj', gravel, or
other materials, so as to provide a stable
support for the dwelling or dwellings to be
constructed. In some cases a small natural
islet was utilized, if it fm-nished a surface
level with the surface of the water, or nearly
so, the labour of adapting it for its intended
purpose being then comparatively small.
These insular abodes or strongholds were
reached either by means of a boat; by a
wooden gangway, probably furnished with
a kind of drawbridge ; or by a stone cause-
way which, in some cases at least, seems
to have been submerged to the depth of
several feet.' Numerous specimens of such
artificial islands have been discovered in

1 These causeways had sometimes also a winding or zigzag
direction, 8<i that it would have been danireroiis for anyone
not familiar with them to attempt to make uae of tliem.

28

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Scotland, as well as in Ii'eland, while a
small number have been found in England,
but no examples of the actual dwellings
with which they were surmounted are
known in Scotland, these, being no doubt
constructed of wood, wattle-work, or the
like, having natm-ally long ago disappeared.
Many structm-es of the same kind have
been discovered and examined in different
parts of Europe, especially in Switzerland,
Germany, and Northern Italy; and dwell-
ings of a more or less similar tyi->e are in
use in Borneo, New Guinea, and other
islands of the Malay Archipelago, in the
Caroline Islands, and elsewhere, at the pre-
sent day. It was the discovery of a pile-
dwelling in Switzerland in 18.54 that led to
the systematic investigation of such struc-
tures, and was thus the means of bringing
to Hght a whole series of facts hitherto un-
known to archffiologists.

The general method according to which
a crannog was constructed is thus described
by Dr. Mimro in his comprehensive work,
The Lake-Bwellings of Europe: — "The con-
struction of a crannog must have been a
gigantic operation in those days, requiring
in many cases the services of the whole
clan. Ha^ang fixed on a suitable locality
— the topographical requirements of which
seemed to be a small mossy lake, with its
margin overgrown ^vith weeds and grasses
and secluded amidst the thick meshes of
the primaeval forests — the next considera-
tion was the selection of the materials for.
constructing the island. In a lake contain-
ing soft and yielding sediment of decom-
posed vegetable matter it is manifest that
any heavy substances, such as stones and
earth, woidd be totally inadmissible owing
to their weight, so that solid logs of wood,
provided there was an abundant supply at
hand, would be the best and cheapest ma-
terial that could be used. The general
plan adopted was to make an island of
stems of trees and brushwood laid trans-
versely, with which stones and earth were
mingled. This mass was pinned together
and suiTOunded by a series of stockades,
which were firmly united by intertwining
branches, or, in the more artistically con-
structed crannogs, by horizontal beams with

mortised holes to receive the uprights.
These horizontal beams were arranged in
two ways. One set ran along the circum-
ference and bound together aU the uprights
in the same cuxle, while others took a radial
direction and connected each circle together.
Sometimes the latter were long enough to
embrace three circles. The external ends
of these radial beams were occasionally ob-
served to be contiinious with additional
strengthening materials, such as wooden
props and large stones, ■^^■hich in some cases
ajjpeared also to have acted as a break-
water. The mechanical skill displayed in
this structure was specially directed to give
stability to the island and to prevent super-
incumbent pressure from causing the gene-
ral mass to bulge outwards."

The first person known to have described
lake-dwellings is the Greek historian Hero-
dotus, who tells us that the Persians, in their
invasion of Thrace and Macedonia, in the
beginning of the fifth centm-y B.C., found
Lake Prasias inhabited by people who lived
in houses constructed on platfonns sup-
ported on piles driven into the bottom of
the lake. His description is worth repeat-
ing, as being that of one who was contem-
porary ^-ith the manner of life he describes.
The lake, now a marsh, was an expansion
of the river Strymon or Struma. The Per-
sians, he tells us, "attempted to conquer
those dwelling in the lake, who live in the
following manner. Platforms fitted on lofty
piles are placed in the middle of the lake,
with a narrow access from the shore by one
gangway. The piles that support the plat-
forms were originally planted by the whole
community in common, but since then they
are planted according to the established
rule that when a man marries he plants
three piles for each vriie he takes, bringing
them from a mountain called Orbelus; and
each has a number of wives. Their way of
life is that each owns a hut on the platform
and dwells in it, and he has also a trap-door
constructed in the platform, and leading
down to the lake; and the very young
children they tie by the foot with a cord
from fear of them rolling into the water.
They give fish for fodder to their horses and
beasts of burden, and the lake so abounds

I

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

29

with these that when a man has opened his
trap-door he lets down an empty basket by
a cord into the water, and after waiting a
short time draws it up full of fish."'

Regarding the everyday life of the occu-
pants of the lake-dwellings of Scotland we
have no such vivid and informative picture,
we can only conjecture what it was from
the relics left by them. These include stone
querns for grinding their meal, spindle
whorls to assist in spinning, iron axe-heads
and other articles of iron, dishes and other
articles of bronze, combs, pins, needles and
borers of bone, canoes and other articles of
wood, fragments of pottery, glass beads,
and a few flint implements. Probably each
crannog was the site of more than one dwel-
ling, and this is all the more likely from the
fact above referred to that the formation of
such an artificial island would be a work that
could only be accomplished by the united
labour of a number of persons. Perhaps in
some instances they were not intended as
permanent abodes, but as places of shelter, to
be occupied only on the pressure of sudden
danger, and deserted when this had passed
away.

By some archaeologists a vast antiquity
is assigned to the lake-dwellings, but that
the majority of those structures in Scot-
land are not older than the Iron Age
seems to be proved by the relics found in
connection with them. These, as we have
just seen, include implements of flint and
bronze as well as others of iron, and thus
the three successive ages would appear to
be represented; but in most cases, if not in
all, these relics are in such juxtaposition
that they must have been all in use at the
same time. Dr. Munro holds that these
dwellings are to be assigned to a compara-
tively late date, and that the vast majority
of the Scottish crannogs were both con-
structed and inhabited in the Iron Age. If
this be so, they are much more recent than
many of those on the Continent, which were

' The modern pile-dwellings have been described by va-
rious travellers. They seem penerally to he less massive
and substantial structures than those of ancient Scotland
or Macedonia. The inhabitAnts in many cases are almost
amphibious, and when a child tumbles into the water there
is always its mother, grandmother, or some other person
to plunge in and pick it out.

certainly inhabited, not only in the Bronze
Age, but also in the Neolithic or Stone Age.
In Switzerland even at the earliest period
their inhabitants had made considerable
progress in civilization, being acquainted
with agriculture, the rearing of cattle, the
art of weaving flax, and the making of pof^
tery and basket-work. If the origin of these
dwellings in Scotland is later than some have
supposed, there is also evidence to show that
they continued to be occupied in compara-
tively recent times. For instance, a crannog
in Loch Kinord, Aberdeenshire, was visited
by James IV. in 1506, and continued to be
a place of strength till 16-48, when the Scot-
tish parliament ordered its fortifications to
be destroyed; and others are spoken of as
places of importance down to a similarly
late period both in Scotland and Ireland.

Dr. Munro considers the cramiogs to have
been especially the work of the Celtic in-
habitants of the British Islands, who, he
thinks, may have brought with them a
knowledge of these lacustrine erections
from the Continent. " I believe it pro-
bable,'' he says, " that the early Celts had
got this knowledge from contact with the
inhabitants of the pile-villages in Central
Europe. On this hypothesis it would fol-
low that the Celts had migrated into Britain
when these lacustrine abodes were in full
vogue in Smtzerland, and that they re-
tained their knowledge of the art long after
it had fallen into desuetude in Europe.
Subsequent immigrants into BriUiin, such
as the Belga;, Angles, &c., would cultivate
new and improved methods of defensive
warfare; whilst the first Celtic invaders,
still retaining their primary ideas of ci\'ili-
zation, when harassed by enemies and ob-
liged to act on the defensive, would have
recourse to their inherited system of pro-
tection. . . . Though the Anglo-Saxons,
in coming from the mouth of the Elbe and
the low-lying districts between it and the
Rhino, must have been familiar with marine
pile-structures, they do not appear to have
cultivated the system to any gi-eat extent
after immigrating into Britain. But this
may be accounted for by the fact that \-ery
soon they became the conquerors of the
country. It is only for defence that lake

30

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

and marsh dwellings have been resorted
to." 1

The hill-forts are the most numerous class
of ancient structures existing in Scotland,
being found in almost all parts of the country.
They are erections of earth or stone inclos-
ing an area of greater or less extent, and
are usually planted on the summit or slope
of some prominent hill. Their essential
feature consists in the fact that they have
apparently been constructed on the elevated
sites they occupy because of the suitability

of these for being held as defensive posi-
tions. Generally speaking their outline and
disposition are more or less dependent upon
the nature of the area on which they have
been erected. They may be divided into
four chief classes: (1) works made of earth,

(2) works of commingled earth and stone,

(3) works of unbuilt stone, (4) works of dry
masonry.2 The nature of the country, and
the ease or difficulty that there might be in
procuring stones, would naturally help to
determine which mode of construction ^vould

-?J?i .-<■-*?''*-

HiLL-FOET, called Wliite Catertliun, in stratli

lioys Military Antiquities.

be employed in any particular case. Whether
made of earth or stone they usually exhibit
one or more rings, or lines of circumvalla-
tion that inclose an area which is prevail-
ingly of somewhat circular shape. These
rings or ramparts may form a more or less
complete circuit according to the character
of the ground, and may be accompanied by
trenches and other works of greater or less
magnitude, the defences being stronger on
the side that is the weaker owing to the
natural features of the site.

The simplest of these forts have been
formed by digging trenches and throwing
up the excavated earth to form the ram-
parts. These, as they now exist, are of no
great height, perhaps 9 or 10 feet at most,
but no doubt the wearing effect of time has
greatly reduced their elevation, and perhaps

1 An interesting account of an English crannog recently
discovered at Glastonbury was read before the Glastonbury
Antiquarian Society in November, 189*2. It was stated (ac-
cording to the report in The Scotsman) that " of the dwell-
ings themselves there was nothing left to tell of their size
or shape, but there was evidence of their having been con-
structed of wattle and split timber, the crevices between
the wood being tilled up with clay. A quantity of this clay
had been dug up with the wattle or timber marks on one
side, and very distinct impressions of the fingers that had

when they were in a serviceable condition
they would be crowned with palisades. The
works of earth and stone in combination
show no specific difference in plan from
those of earth alone, nor do those of loosely
piled stones — a class which, however, seems
to be comparatively rare. Among the most
remarkable of the stone forts is that known
as the White Caterthun in Menmuir parish,
Forfarshire. Here we have three concentric
walls or ramparts, the innermost or that
nearest the summit inclosing an area of oval
outline about 450 feet long by 200 broad.
The remains of this wall, which now at
least appears to be formed entirely of loose
stones, form a mass about 100 feet wde in
jilaces, with a height of from 4 to 6 feet
above the inclosed area, and a long outer
slope. The other walls or ramparts sur-

pressed it into position on the other. The clay was pro-
bably baked hard when the huts were destroyed by fire, the
obvious fate of many of them." Many fragments of pottery
were found, and a number of articles in bronze beautifully
fashioned, as well as articles of iron. Needles, spindle
whorls, loom weights, combs for carding wool, and part of
a shuttle were also found. This crannog was probably used
as a place of defence against the invading Saxons.

2 Proceedings of the Society of Antiqiiaries of Scotland
for 1888 89, p. 426.

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

».S1

rounding this are much less massive, lii
the forts with regularly built walls various
styles of masonry are employed, and the
wall generally vaiies in strength according
to the nature of the ground, the edge of a
precipice or a very steep slope naturall}' re-
quiring little or no defence.

A remarkable feature in connection with
these stone forts is that in many cases the
walls have been to a greater or less extent
vitrified by fire — portions of them being
thus consolidated into a somewhat glassy
mass; but how this was accomplished, and
whether it was intended to give additional
strength, is not clearly made out. Some
authorities have thought that such forts
were constructed originally of wood and
stone, and that the vitrification resulted
from the structure being set on fire
either accidentally or by a besieging enemy.
Others have sought to account for the phe-
nomenon on the hj'pothesis that these forts
were the sites of great beacon fires lighted
to give warning of the approach of invaders,
or they have suggested that great bonfires
were kindled on the respective spots in con-
nection with religious or other celebrations,
the vitrification in any case being thus acci-
dental rather than intentional. The general
belief, however, is that the vitrification was
effected intentionally, and with the view of
giving increased strength to the structure
thus treated, evidence in favour of this being
the facts that the vitrified portions of the
wall are usually at points least strong by
nature, and that in a number of cases stones
susceptible of fusion by fire have been car-
ried from some distance to the site selected
for a fort, where there was already abund-
ance of rocky material ready to hand, Init
not of the desired kind. The extent to
which fusion has gone varies consideral)ly ;
when it has reached the highest degree the
wall, Or a large portion of it, presents the
appearance of a solid glassy mass. Vitrified
forts have been found in one or two cases
in Ireland, and they are also met with in
France, Germany, and the Austrian do-
minions; but no specimens are known to
exist in England, Wales, or Scandina\'ia.

Singularly enough in hardly any instances
are the hill -forts provided with a well or

other special source of water supply, a fea-
ture which gives rise to the belief that they
can hardly have been intended to be occu-
pied for any length of time. Altogether
they are structures in regard to the origin
and use of which little or nothing is de-
finitely known. One might hazard a con-
jecture that certain of them, instead of
being forts, were places intended to be the
scene of rites associated with some old-
world religion, or of long-forgotten tribal
customs or ceremonies.

If we know so little of the hill-forts, we
are equally in the dark regarding the works
known as "earth-houses" or "j'ird-houses."'
These are of so entirely different a character
that they are subterranean abodes or recep-
tacles, burrows or excavations, lined with
masonry, and completely co\ered o^er with
the surface soil. They are generally situated
in localities where the land is now all under
tillage, and have often been discovered in
the operation of ploughing. They may be
described as long, narrow, undergi'ound
galleries, entered by a small opening at
the surface of the ground, then sloping
downwards and widening out till they ter-
minate in a closed and rounded end, the
whole being not only lined, but also roofed
with stones. They are generally more or
less curved in plan, frequently, indeed, ex-
hibiting a ver}' sharp bend in their course
at some distance from the entrance. The
total length from entrance to extreniitj-,
measvu'ed along the curve, ma)- vary from
30 feet to more than double this, the
greatest width being 8 or 9 feet, and the
greatest height of the walls 6 or 7 feet.
Some of the roofing stones are rough .slabs
of great size, as much as 7 or 8 feet in
length by 3 in breadth. These earth-houses
have lieen found o\er the whole length of
Scotland, from Berwickshire to the north
coast of Sutherland, and thence to the
Shetland Islands, and sometimes they occur
in considerable numbers together, as in
Forfarshire and Aberdeenshire. From the
relics found in connection with them they
are assigned to a date not earlier than the
Roman occupation of southern Scotland,

1 They are also called "Picts" houses" and tttemt, the
latter name being from the Gaelic word for * cave.

32^

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

and to the time when paganism still pre- |
vailed in the country, but what precisely
was the use to which they were put is not
quite clear. Probably they may have served
more than one purpose. Many of them might
have been used as imderground store-houses,
or as hiding-places in cases of emergency,
while others, perhaps, would be occupied as
dwellings during the rigour of a Scottish
winter. Somewhat similar structures have
been found elsewhere than in Scotland, as
in Cornwall and Ireland ; but the Scottish
earth-houses are so distinct in character as
to form a type by themselves.

Much more elaborate and perhaps more
interesting structures are those known as

Bkoch or JIousA, Shetland.

"burghs" or "brochs," which form a class
of edifices peculiar to Scotland, and to Scot-
land alone. They occur in by far the largest
numbers in the northern counties, including
Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles,
though they are found also in other paits
of the country, more than three hundred in
all being known. A broch, as described by
Dr. Joseph Anderson, is a hoUow circular
tower of dry-built masonry, rarely more
than 70, or less than 40 feet in total dia-
meter, occasionally at least 50 feet high,
and inclosing a circular court or area from
25 to 45 feet in diameter. The wall, which
may be from 9 to 20 feet thick, is carried
up solid for about 10 feet, except where it
is pierced by the narrow passage giving
entrance to the interior court, or where
chambers are hollowed within its thickness

and opening off the court. Above this
height there are horizontal galleries in the
thickness of the wall, each about 6 feet
high and 3 feet wade, running completely
round the tower, except where they are
crossed by the stair that gives access to
them, and haWng peculiarly constructed
windows placed above each other, and all
looking into the central area. The only
external opening is that of the narrow
entrance passage, forming a doorway about
5 or 6 feet high, and rarely more than 3
feet wide. The passage itself varies from
9 to 18 feet in length, and about 4 feet from
its outer entrance is the place where the
door — probably a slab of stone — was placed,
and where the masonry pre-
sents features intended to en-
able it to be securely fixed.
Many of the brochs are
built in positions naturally
strong, such as a precipi-
tous eminence or a promon-
tory projecting into a loch,
and they are also defended
by ditches and embank-
ments, earthen ramparts, and
dry stone walls. Hence it is
clear that they were intended
' to serve as places of shelter
.-| and defence. Moreover, as
they are generally planted
in the neighbourhood of
the best land in the districts where they
are situated, it is hardly doubtful that
they were designed to fm-nish a refuge
for an agricultural population with their
cattle and other belongings, when the lives
and property of the community were threa-
tened by foreign invaders or by bands of
hostile plunderers from any quartei'. For
this purpose they are admirably contrived,
as they form a series of strongholds that
could only be reduced by a regular siege.
In these fastnesses there was little need for
warriors, as the inmates were safe against
missiles and even against lire, from the
height and strength of the walls, while the
only entrance from without was extremely
unlikely to be forced, owing to its narrow-
ness and strength. Provided with a suflB-
ciency of food, and obtaining water from

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

»33

a well inside the inclosure, as was often
the case in the hrochs, the people thus shel-
tered could hold out for an indefinite time.

The relics found in the brochs, like the
sti'uctures themselves, are decided by anti-
quaries to be Celtic in character, and to
belong to post-Roman times. The brochs
were probably built in most cases as places
of refuge fr'om the Scandinavian vikings
that for centuries were a scourge to many
of the Em-opeaii coasts. They do not there-
fore strictly belong to the Prehistoric era
of Scotland, though little or nothing of
their history is known. The relics include
swords, spears, knives, axes, and chisels of
iron, with rings, bracelets, pins, and other
articles of bronze or of brass; and though
gold seems to be wanting, silver and lead
were now in use, though unknown to Scot>
land in the Bronze Age. Numerous
articles made of the bones and horns of
animals are found in the brochs, as also
implements made of stone — querns, mortars,
pestles, bowls and cups, lamps, &c. Pot-
tery of various kinds was common. Spin-
ning and weaving were evidently practised.
Agriculture, hunting, and fishing furnished
a subsistence; and the animal food of the
people of the brochs was sufficiently varied,
being furnished by the stag, the roe, the
reindeer, the ox, sheep, goat, and pig, the
whale, porpoise, cod, haddock, and other
denizens of the sea.

The relics obtained from the brochs, as
Dr. Joseph Anderson points out, must have
been the product of an advanced stage of
cultiu'e, civilization, and social organization.
We see their occupants, as he says, "plant-
ing their defensive habitations thickly
over the area of the best arable land, fring-
ing the coasts, and studding the straths
with a form of structure perfectly unique
in character and conception, and for purposes
of defence and passive resistance as admir-
ably devised as anything yet invented. We
see that this system of gigantic and labori-
ously constructed strongholds has been de-
vised and universally adopted ^vith the plain
intention of providing for the security of
the tillers and the produce of the soil. We
find their occupants cultivating grain, keep-
ing flocks and herds, and hunting the forests

VOL. I.

and fishing the sea for their sustenance.
We find them practising arts and industries
implying intelligence and technical skill,
and appaiently also involving commercial
relations with distant sources of the raw
materials." And when we find all this to
be sufficiently substantiated by the evidence,
and consider the character of the civilization
that we have found prevailing in the preced-
ing periods, we wonder where there is room
for the state of rudeness and barbarity that
some of the classical writers have depicted
as existing in Scotland subsequent to the
beginning of the Christian era. Dion
Cassius, for instance, a historian of the
third century, speaks of the inhabitants of
Caledonia as if they were in the habit of
going naked and of hiding in marshes for
days together, sunk in mud and water up
to the neck; and similar statements are
made by Herodian, a contemporary Avriter.
If there was any truth at all in such j)ic-
tures — if they were not based on the pro-
verbial "travellers' tales," current no doubt
at this as well as at other periods, or were
not the offspring of an over-lively imagina-
tion— these pictures can only have referred
to the most miserable and degraded of the
inhabitants, possibly to members of an older
race reduced to a condition of al)ject sla-
ver}% or to people who, through their mis-
deeds, had been driven out of the general
community, and had become outlaws and
Ishmaelites. That the people of Scotland
as a whole were living in such a state of
utter savagely, is a proposition that can
in no way be biought into harmony with
the degi'ee of civilization and culture which
the indisputable evidence of archieology
proves to have existed.'

It still remains for us to take into consi-
deration some questions of very great in-
terest regard i ng the early inhabitants of Scot-
land, and their relation to other peoples,
whether of the present or the jiast. It has
already been stated that the peo])le who ap-
pear as the earliest inhabitants of the country
in the Neolithic period are believed to have

1 It is possible, however, that there may have been times
when numbers (»f the inhnbitJints were rxMluced to great
destitutiim owing to w.irs, famine, pestilence, or oUier
calamity. This miKht partly account for tlie statements of
tlie ancient writers here referred to.

34*

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

belonged to the Iberian race ; and it is also
claimed that their descendants still form an
element more or less distinct among the
Scottish people of the present day. The
Iberians seem to have been, as far back as
we can trace them, a race of Southern
Europe and Northern Africa, who had to
make way for stronger, or more able and
warlike peoples, and thus were displaced
from their ancient seats, or were absorbed
by these incomers, and lost their distinctive
language and institutions, except perhaps
in the Basque country. The peoples who
now hold, and have long held the greater
part of Europe, speak a series of languages
totally different from the Basque ; languages
which differ indeed among themselves, but
yet possess in common such marks of
similarity as serve to show that they have
all descended from one primitive form of
speech, much in the same way as Italian,
French, Sjianish, and Portuguese have all
descended from Latin. All the languages
that show this community of descent have
been grouped together by philologists into
what is known as the Aryan, or Indo-Euro-
pean family of tongues, a family which thus
includes not only Greek, Latin, and most of
the idioms of modern Europe (excluding,
however, Turkish, Hungarian, and Finnish),
but also such Asiatic languages as Sanskrit,
Persian, and Armenian. That all these
languages spread from one centre, or at
least from one common area, is tolerably
certain; and that a Celtic-speaking people
carried their own language with them from
this centre over a great part of Western Eu-
rope, including the British Isles, is equally
certain. It is also highly probable that Celtic
thus supplanted an Iberian tongue over a
certain area, though that this was the case
in Britain we do not know for an actual
fact. That Celtic was spoken in Britain,
however, long before the beginning of the
Christian era, there can be no doubt. The
Celtic invaders of Britain, as we have
already stated in this chapter, seem to
have arrived in two successive waves —
with what interval between we know not
— the first wave consisting of Celts belong-
ing to the Goidelic or Gaelic division of the
Celtic peoples, the second, of Celts belong-

ing to the Cymric or Brythonic division.
The subsequent invasion of Britain by
Germanic or Teutonic tribes, which has
given us the language now almost univer-
sally spoken in these islands, belongs, of
course, entirely to the historic period.

How remote the period may have been
when there was as yet no language in ex-
istence that could be called either Celtic,
or Teutonic, or Greek, or Latin, or Sanskrit,
or Slavonic, but only a language containing
within it the germs of all these, we cannot
tell ; j^et there can be little doubt that such
a language did exist, and indeed philologists
tell us, with some confidence, what con-
sonant and what vowel sounds this Aryan
parent-speech must have possessed, what
were the forms of its inflections, and what
must have been the most important words
belonging to its vocabulary, judging from
the words that can be traced as forming a
common possession of the Aryan tongues,
and that are not borrowed from foreign
sources. By the method of "linguistic
paleontology," as it has been called, by
sifting out and collecting such woi'ds as
can be shown to have belonged to the
primitive stock of Aryan vocables; and by
reasoning from words to things, philologists
have been able to place before us a picture
— dim and vague in its outlines, doubtless —
of the civilization that existed in the prim-
itive community, and have thus helped in
settling where such community must have
had its original seat. At one time the
primitive home of the Aryans was sup-
posed to have been in Asia, but this view
has latterly been almost entirely given
up; and the region where the first Aryan-
speaking people dwelt is now believed to
have been in Eastern Europe, probably in
South-eastern Russia, where this country
is intersected by the Volga. This view,
of course, decides nothing as to the ulti-
mate origin of these primitive Aryans, as
to the locality whence they found their
way thither — it only decides that here we
find the fountain-head of Aryan speech,
and further back in this direction we have
no means of going.

The civilization that linguistic palueon-
tology reveals to us as existing among the

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

►35

primitive Aryans, presents the following as
its chief features : — Our Ai-yan ancestors, at
the stage when they formed as yet a single
community or nation,^ appear to have been
a pastoral rather than an agricultiu'al people,
being to a laige degree nomadic in their
habits, though tillage was to some extent
practised. They possessed herds of cattle,
and flocks of sheep and goats; the dog
was then, as now, the faithful companion
of man; and they were acquainted ^Wth the
horse, but whether it was as yet domesti-
cated is uncertain : probably it was kept in
a half-wild state to furnish a supply of
food. The ass, the mule, the camel, and
the cat were animals unknown to the
primitive Aryans; and they appear to have
had none of the birds belonging to the
poultry class. Of wild animals they were
acquainted with the wolf, the bear, the
otter, the wld boar, the hare, and the
beaver; among birds they had names for
the owl, the raven and crow, the cuckoo,
and some few others. Few names of trees
are common to the Aryan languages; and
this is one reason that has led to the belief
that the primitive seat of the Aryans was
a steppe country bare of timber, such as
that indicated above. That they recog-
nized only two seasons of the year — winter
and summer — is tolerably certain ; and this
also agrees with the climatic conditions
prevailing in South-eastern Russia, where
spring and autumn are seasons that form
an unimportant portion of the year. The
moon was the chief time-measiu'er in this
remote period, and the night, or period of
darkness, was regarded as of more import-
ance in computations than the daily period
of light— a view still reflected in our fmi-
night and sennight. Flesh formed part of
the food of the people, being eaten roasted,

> In treating of the peoples speakine Aryan lan^agcs, it
has been a very common practice with MTiters to repard
them as all of one race— the Aryan or Indo-European race
—thus making race and language co-extensive. This is not
a very scientific proceeding, however, since the fact that a
people or community speaks a certain language is not in
Itself evidence as to the race to which that people belongs.
A people may speak one language at one period of its his-
tory, another at another. The Jews as a rule now speak
the language of whatever people they happen to live
among; the Romans impressed their language upon various
peoples, who thus gave up their own tongue in favour of
Latin; the negroes of America speak English— or at least a

and probably also raw. The dietary also
included milk and vegetable food ; but, sin-
gularly enough, fish seem to have been
entirely neglected, as there is no common
Aryan word for fish or for anj^ particular
fish. Besides milk, they had also mead
as a beverage — so early do men seem to
have found out a way to provide them-
selves with the seductive pleasures of in-
toxicating liquor. For clothing they had
skins, and also some kind of rude woven
garments of wool and flax, as well as
felted stuffs. As to their dwellings, these
appear to have been partly waggons, in
which they followed their flocks and herds
from place to place; partly rude huts of
wood, wattle-work, or clay; and partly ex-
cavations in the ground, stone not being
used as yet for building houses. Exchange
of commodities was carried on by barter;
and though navigation was known, it was
only effected by boats of the "dug-out"
canoe class, and in inland waters, the sea
being unknown to the primitive Aryans.
As regards family relationships, the husband
was lord and master in his household — the
wife was not much superior in position to
a slave; polygamy and concubinage were
practised ; and it rested with the father to
decide whether children were to be brought
up, or exposed and allowed to perish. In
regard to religious beliefs or notions, ex-
tremely little has been ascertained with
anj^ approach to certainty.

The mode of life thus shown by linguistic
paleontology to have existed among the
Aryans before their dispersion, is on the
whole very similar to that which prevails
over a considerable portion of Southern
Russia at the present day — where the
people make flocks and herds their chief
care, live in clumsy waggons or dwellings

bastard variety of it ; and in the present chapter we sup-
pose a change of language on the part of Ilierians in 5kwt-
land. .So tlie Ar>'an languages in Europe, it is believed,
have been spoken from time immemorial by pe^iples belong-
ing to more than one race, as is evidenced by the prevalence
of the dolichocephalic tj-pe of skull in some regions (Scan-
dinavia more especially), of the brachycephalic in ntliers.
A controversy has hence arisen as to which t>*pc is that of
the true primitive Arj'an- a question that seems excewl-
ingly difficult of settlement. Dr. Schrader judiciously in-
clines to the view tliat the original Ar>'an community, the
community among which tlie primitive Aryan speech arooe,
may itself have been of mixed race.

36*

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

dug in the ground, and use skins at least |
as part of their clothing. In one respect,
however, there is an important difl'erence —
the primitive Aryans were unacquainted
with the use of metals. In this respect it is
important to note, they were on a level
with the Neolithic people of Scotland, who
also in other respects, as we have already
seen, had arrived at a stage of civilization
strikingly similar to that which may be
predicated of the Aryans in their original
home. So that the conclusions at which
philologists have arrived by investigations
based on language, are in singular accord-
ance with those at which archaeologists have
arrived by a very different road, namely,
by investigations entirely confined to the
field of archaeology.

Regarding the migration of the Aryans
from their ancient home, the evolution of
dialects, and ultimately separate languages,
from the one ancestral speech, and the con-
temporaneous evohition of separate nation-
alities; and regarding the fortunes of the
separate peoples up to the time when they
reached their final abodes — the Celts as far
to the west as the British Islands, the Hin-
doos as far to the east as India — we can learn
little either from history, from archteology,
or from philology. Such questions after
all, however interesting in themselves, have
only, it must be admitted, a somewhat
remote bearing on the history of Scotland;
but there is an allied question, and one
closely connected with Scottish history and
ethnology, that still remains involved in
almost equal darkness, and that is— Of what
race and language were the Picts? This
question might be said to belong to the his-
toric I'ather than to the prehistoric period
of Scotland, since we first find the Picts
mentioned under this name about three
hundred years after the beginning of the
(Jhristian era. Still, as they must have
entered Scotland in prehistoric times, from
whatever quarter they came, it will not be
out of place to pass in review some of the
most recent conclusions of scholars regard-
ing their race and language, while their
history is fully treated in the early chapters
of the following work.

The chief reason why there is a Pictish

question that has so long been debated, and
is so difficult of solution, is that, with the
exception of a certain number of proper
names, there are hardly any words that can
be conclusively shown to be Pictish. The
name Pict itself may be said to be equally
dark with other matters I'elating to the
people. The first to use it apparently was
a Latin writer, Eumenius, in 296 A.D., who
speaks of "the Caledonians and other Picts"
in connection with the campaigns of the
Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus in
Britain; and the common view is that
"Picts" is a Latin word converted into
a projjer name, and that it means simply
"the painted (or tattooed) people." That
the Roman writers so understood it is
evident; but this may have arisen from a
misunderstanding, and it is by no means cer-
tain that the name was not originally Pictish,
and from its similarity in sound to the Latin
pidus, painted, led the liomans to believe
that the two words were identical. This
is the view to which Professor Rhys and
others incline, at anyrate. He points to the
similarity between the name of this people
of Scotland and the names Pictones and
Pictavi occurring among the ancient Gauls,
these latter being names that cannot be
cojmected with the Latin ^j/c<ms; and he
brings forward other evidence tending in
the same direction. It is true that certain
ancient writers speak of the Picts or Cale-
donians as painted or tattoed with figures
of animals; so that the name Picti, "the
painted men," would thus be justified. Yet
it is not altogether certain that such state-
ments were based on actual observation, or
that the Picts were more given to orna-
menting themselves in this way than other
rude peoples. At anyrate, Tacitus, writing
in the first century of our era, does not
attribute this practice to the Caledonians;
and Gildas (\vi'iting in the sixth century),
as Professor Rhys points out, though he
evidently wishes to attribute to the Picts
as outlandish an aspect as possible, and
refers to their hairy faces and scant cloth-
ing, says nothing about painting or tat-
tooing. Indeed, even if they did paint
or tattoo themselves, it is allowable to
believe that the name was of native origin,

I

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.

*37

antl had no reference to this, its similarity
to the Latin pidus being purely fortuitous.

"With regard to the race to which the Picts
belonged it will no doubt be deemed prol>
able, from considerations already brought
forward, that they were largely of Iberian
blood. Whether they still retained their
Iberian tongue when we first find them
mentioned in history is another Cjuestion,
which Prof. Rhys would answer in the
affirmative, especially as regards the more
northern Picts. If we take the view that
this was so, it will be natural also to take
his view that Gaelic spread itself over
Northern Scotland owing to the well-known
immigration of the Dalriad Scots from Ire-
land, and the spread of their power and
influence; since we know that the Gaelic of
Scotland and that of Ireland are practically
one and the same language. No doubt
Celtic was spoken also south of the Pictish
area in early times, but the general belief is
that this form of Celtic speech belonged to
the Brythonic or British, and not to the
Gaelic branch.

As bearing on this subject we may refer
to the fact mentioned in Adamnan's Life of
St. Columha, that the saint (who was himself
a Scot from Ireland), though he seems gener-
ally to have had no difficulty in understand-
ing, and making himself understood to, the
Picts, on one or two occasions required an
interpreter. This is hardly consistent ■(vith
the supposition that Iberian was the pre-
vailing tongue among the Picts, otherwise
one would think St. Columba must have
generally recjuired an iiiterpreter ; but it is
(|uite in harmony with the supposition that
it was still spoken in some localities, though
the Iberians as a whole had given up their
own language and adopted that of the
dominant Celts. The state of matters at that
time would thus bo similar to what we find
in the Highlands at the present day, where,
though English is the dominant tongue,
there are still localities in which a person
unacquainted with Gaelic would require the
services of an interpreter. As evidence that
Iberian, or at least non-Aryan, custom was
hard to eradicate we find the rule prevailing
in Pictland that succession to the crown
went by the mother's side and not by the

father's, brothers and sisters' sons succeed-
ing, to the rejection of sons. Such a custom
is not known in connection with any of the
Aryan peoples. Professor Rhys thinks it
probable that Iberian speech Lingered longest
in the north-east of Scotland, and suggests
that the well-known peculiarities of the
Aberdeen dialect maj^ be due to Iberian in-
fluence. This may possibly be the case,
but it is certain that the Scotch of this part
of Scotland could not have come directly
under the influence of Iberian, since an
overwhelming majority of the place-names
here are clearly of Gaelic origin, thus
showing that Gaelic must have preceded
the Lowland Scotch as the speech of the
inhabitants.^

Dr. Skene on investigating the subject
comes to the conclusion that Pictish was a
Gaelic tongue in no way very different from
the Irish of the same period, though more
or less pronounced dialects may have existed
locally. Such dialectic differences might
account, he thinks, for the fact that Columba
on one or two occasions required an inter-
preter, though generally he found no such
difficulty. "There is," he asserts, "almost
a concurrent testimony of the Celtic inhabi-
tants of Britain to the Picts having belonged
to that branch of the race which the Welsh
called Gwyddel, and the Irish Gaedheal.
Throughout the whole of the Welsh docu-
ments the Picts are usually denominated
Gwj-ddel Ffichti, while the Irish are simply
termed Gwyddel. Although this word
Gwyddel is generally used to designate a
nati\'e of Ireland, and is so translated, this
is its modern usage only; and it is impossible
to examine the older Welsh documents
without seeing that it was originally the
designation of the Gadhelic race wherever
situated, and the Picts are thus clearly
assigned to it. . . . The race of the
Picts were not, however, confined to Britain.
They originally extended over the whole of
the north of Ireland, and though eventually

' There are certain element* in many place-name* of
this part of Scotlaml which are commonly regardcil as
specially I'ictish, more pnrticnlarly the prcflies PtI or Pit.
Feltrr, Ar, and For. These ilo not prove anjthinK aa to
the prevalence of the Iberian lamniaRC here, since Uiey can
he explained liy comparison witli the Gaelic or Br}-tlionic
A fen- place-names do seem to belong to an older stratum
of languajje.

38*

HISTOKY OF SCOTLAND.

confined to the territory on the east of
Ulster called Dalnaraidhe, or Dalaradia,
they remained there as a separate people
under the name of Cruithnigh till a com-
paratively late period. Down to the be-
ginning of the seventh century they formed
with the Picts of Scotland one nation; but
during the whole period of their separate
existence the Irish annals do not contain a
hint that they spoke a language different
from the rest of Ireland." At most he be-
lieves that the difference between Pictish
and Irish may not have been greater than
that between Breton or Cornish and Welsh,
and much less than between AVelsh and
Irish. The Southern Picts he believes may
have possessed some differences of idiom
from the Northern Picts, and they appear
latterly (according to him) to have been
incorporated with the Dumnoniiof Southern
Scotland, who belonged to the Cornish va-
riety of the British race and introduced a
British element into the Pictish tongue.

That the Pictish language belonged to
the Cymric or Brythonic branch of the
Celtic, and was thus more closely akin to
the Welsh than to the Irish, has been
maintained by other scholars, who find
evidence of this in certain of the words and
forms that can reasonably be decided to be
Pictish. The most recent verdict on this
question is given by the distinguished Celtic
scholar, Whitley Stokes, who maintains in
The Academy for June 4, 1892, "that Pictish
was a Celtic language retaining several
traces of the Old Celtic declensions, but in
other respects nearer to Welsh than to
Irish."

At one time it was a common theory that
the Picts were a " Gothic," that is a Teutonic
or Germanic people, and that their language,
therefore, was akin to English, German, and
the other Teutonic tongues. This ojjinion
was stoutly maintained by Pinkerton, as
also by Dr. Jamieson, author of the famous
Scottish Dictionary, but it may now be
said to be entirely given up. It was never,
indeed, supported by very strong evidence,
and the argiunents that can be brought
against it are far too strong to be resisted.

Before closing this chapter we may refer
to an argument bearing on the ethnology
of Scotland based on the Highland costume.
It was brought forward by Professor A. H.
Sayce in his address to the British Associ-
ation in 1887, as president of the Anthropo-
logical section of the association. He points
out that the dress which has been so com-
monly identified as " the garb of Old Gaul "
is not really such, since the ancient Celtic
inhabitants of Gaul, as well as the Celts of
Southern Britain, the Germans, and other
peoples, wore breeches or trousers. The
kilt, on the contrary, is distinctively Scot-
tish, though at one time worn also in Ireland
and in Wales, being introduced into the
latter country, according to Sayce, by immi-
grants from Scotland. From this he con-
cludes that the aboriginal inhabitants of
Scotland and Ireland were non-Celtic, other-
wise there would have been no difterence
between their dress and that of the Celts
elsewhere, since " there are few things about
which a population — more especially in an
early stage of society — is so conservative as
in the matter of dress."

PERIOD I.

FROM THE EAELIEST TIMES TO THE UNION OF THE PICTS AND
SCOTS (A.D. 843).

CHAPTER I.

MYTHIC AND LEGENDARY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Origin of the Scots — Gathelus — His departure from Egypt — His landing in Spain and founding the
Scottish nation — Migrations of the Scots from Spain to Ireland — Their final arrival and settlement
in Scotland — Arrival of the Picts in Scotland — Their wars with the Scots — The Scots send to Ireland
for aid — Fergus arrives and conquers the Picts — Early Scottish kings, Fei^us, &c. — Reign of Keutha
— Arrival of Egyptian envoys at his coiu-t — Visit of Spanish priests to Scotland — Effect of their instruc-
tions upon the Scots — The Scots unite with the Picts and Britons against Juhus Csesar — They defeat
him — Csesar sends ambassadors to the Scots — Caractacus claimed as a Scottish king — His history
according to the Scottish legends — The Scots and Picts continue their resistance to the Romans —
Invasion of Agricola as given in the Scottish legends— Its disastrous issue — The Scots drive the
Romans back into South Britain — Reign of Galdus [Galgacus] — Worthless reign of Lugtak, his suc-
cessor— Reign of Ethodius I. — Of Donald, the first Christian king of Scotland — Successive kings —
Carausius the Jlenapian represented as a Scottish prince — War renewed between the Scots and Picts —
The Scots defeated and driven out of the island — They are recalled by the Picts — They return under
Prince Fergus — His victorious reign as Fergus II. — Death of Fergus — The Romans abandon Britain.

Although the origin of most nations is involved
in impenetrable obscurity, there are few that
do not claim the distinction of an ancient his-
tory. The aim of these early historians is to
I prove that, instead of having been the savages
of yesterday, they have possessed the nationality
and the civilization of ages, and that they were
among tlie firet who emerged from barbarism
into social order and progress. But not content
with a remote antiquity, they also assume an
illustrious national descent, to vindiciite their
claims to superiority. It is the common weak-
ne.ss of individual life manifested collectively
by a people at large, in which the humble or
discreditable sources from which greatness is
derived are concealed,and an illustrious ancestry
substituted in their room; and thus the old
national annals and the old genealogical tree
become equally matter of envy, cavil, and con-
troversy. This remark, so applicable to nations
in general, peculiarly applies to the Scots, with
whom ancestral pride of race a-s well a.s family
is so esfjecial an attribute, and the destruction
of whose earliest national records h.xs left so
wide a tield for assertion and conjectme.

In this spirit the earliest Scottish historians
have derived their countrymen, not from the
naked savages of two thousand years ago, who
had neither fathers to boast of nor deeds to

chronicle, but from the two most renowned
nations which sacred and profane history could
furnish — from Egypt, the early home of science
and civilization, and from Athens, the mother
of literature and intellectual refinement. Ac-
cording to this bold statement the origin of the
Scots, and the founding of the kingdom of
Scotland, occuned in the foUowiug manner.

Gathelus, a son of Argus or of Cecrops (for
to which of these kings the honour of his pater-
nity belonged has been left unsettled), having
made himself notorious by his plundering in-
roads upon Macedonia and Achaia, which he
seems to have conducted in the destructive un-
discriminating spirit of Ills remote descendants,
became obnoxious to Greece at large, and was
obliged to betake himself to flight. Accom-
panied by a baud of his adventurous followers
he aiTived in Egj'|it, during the reign of
tliat Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites ; and
having distinguished himself in the service of
the king by his gallant deeds against the Moors
and Indians, he was enabled to supplant Moses
himself in the royal favour, and obt.iin the
princess Scota, the daughter of Pliaraoli, for
his bride. Dismayed, however, by the coming
of the ten plagues, he resolved to leave a land
which Heaven had so evidently denounce*!;
and embarking with his wife and family, and

32

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

his followers Greek and Egyptian, he issued
from the mouth of the Nile into the Mediter-
ranean in quest of a new settlement. He first
touched at Numidia, but w.os there refused a
landing. His next course was to the coa.st of
Sjjaiu ; and having landed in Lusitania, thence-
forth in honour of him named Portugal (that
is, the port of Gathelus), he defeated the natives
and obtained from them the surrender of a dis-
trict, on which he proceeded to found a new
colony. The Lusitanians growing weary of
such dangerous neighbour, and being not strong
enough to eject them, at length bethought
themselves of a prophecy : it was to the effect
that a strange people should arrive among them
and finally settle in the north part of Spain —
and Gathelus, to whom they imparted the pre-
diction, was not slow to fulfil it. He jiassed
over with his followers to the province of
Galicia, which thenceforth became his home;
built the town of Compostella; and imposed
upon his people the new national name of Scots,
from that of Scota, his beloved Egyptian partner.
He also made laws and dispensed justice
throughout his new kingdom, while his tlu-one
was that memorable stone now inserted in the
chair which is still to be seen in the Abbey of
Westminster. This slab of blackmarble, which
from its final resting-place has witnessed events
and changes that have eclipsed even the marvels
of its early history, was the Stone of Destiny
of the Scots, as is indicated by the well-known
prophecy that accompanies it : —

" Ni fallat fatum, Scoti (juocunque locatvun
Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem."^

The Scots being thus a wandering people
from the beginning, and finding the bounds of
Galicia too narrow for their increasing popu-
lation, resolved to colonize new settlements;
and Gathelus having learned that there was
an island opposite Spain, inhabited by a rude
people having neither laws nor manners, was
desirous to bestow upon it a better popidation.
He accordingly sent out a fleet for the purpose,
luider the command of his two sons, Hiber and
Hemecus, who reached this island ; and finding
it fertile and the people willing to be "plea-
santly subdued," they quietly took possession
and called it Hibernia, after the name of the
eldest son of Gathelus, who returned to Spain,
leaving his brother Hemecus ruler of this future
Ireland. After the death of Hemecus a fierce
contest broke out between the Scots and the
aborigines, as to which of the two races should

1 Thus translated by Bellenden in his version of Boece's
History : —

" The Scottis sail bruke that reaJme as native ground,
Geif weirdis faill uocht, quhair evir this chiar is found."

have the privilege of furnishing a successor;
and the old stock of iidiabitants being the
offspring of giants, were not disposed to concede
the point of honour as pleasantly as they had
done their superfluous territory. A long war
that lasted for several generations was the con-
sequence, and the Scots in Ireland were reduced
to such straits that they were obliged to a])ply
to their brethren of Spain for aid. At length
the latter sent to them an eminent captain
called Symon Brek, by whom this war of suc-
cession was ended, and who was himself ap-
pointed king, being the first sovereign who
ruled in Ireland. Fortunately he had taken
care to bring with him from Spain the marble
Stone of Destiny, which no doubt secured the
promised ascendency to his people, and he
reigned forty years in peace and prosperity.

In this manner, our early legendary or mythic
history brings the Scots from Greece to Egypt,
from Egypt to Spain, and from Spain to Ireland.
But their chief exodus had yet to be fulfilled, and
this important event occurred only 216 years
after the reign of Symon Brek. Why the Scots
forsook Ireland for such a country as Scotland
must then have been, unless from a restless
love of migration and adventure, does not appear.
The firat places also which they were said to
have colonized were Ardgael (Argyle), so called
from their original leader Gathelus ; the Island
of Bute, which was the name of the king then
ruling in Ireland; and the Hebrides, thus
denominated from Hiber, the son of Gathelus.
Thus their choice seems to have fallen upon the
poorest parts of the country, although it might
have been thought that the whole land lay
before them. What people they dispossessed,
or whether they found their new wilderness
uninhabited, is nowhere told us; and thus, in
an age of such violence and forcible occupation,
then- entrance was effected, as it appeal's, with-
out a single battle being fought or even a giant
overcome. Being thus divided among different
localities, they naturally separated into tribes,
each having its own district, independent usages,
and rulei'; and towards these chiefs, who were
their jiidges in peace and cajitains in war, they
acquired such reverential feeling as to swear
by their names and invoke them in trouble, as if
they had been divinities and not ordinary mor-
tals. In this way, according to the old Scottish
annalists, the system of chieftainry was first
established among the Scots of North Britain.

The Scots, however, were not to remain the
sole occupants of the new country, for not long
after their arrival in Scotland the Picts landed
upon the coast. And here the old traditions
are vague and contradictory about the origin of
this new people, some proclaiming them a Ger-

MYTHIC AND LEGENDAEY HISTORY.

33

man tribe, wliile othere assert that they weie
the remains of tlie Huns, who had been driven
from their country by the Flemings. At all
events, they are described as an erratic people,
roaming in quest of a home, who, after being
refused a landing in France, South Britain, and
Ireland, were fain to steal into the north co:iiits
of our island, from which they spread over
Caithness, Boss, Moray, Mearns, Angus, Fife,
and Lothian, expelling the original occupants,
and establishing themselves in their room. In
this summary and unsatisfactory manner their
obtaining possession of the best part of the
country is accounted for. Being now no longer
a landless tribe, they were able to treat with
the Scots on equal terms, and theii- first pro-
posal was for a close ;dliance with the latter,
to be cemented by a marriage with Scottish
brides. To this the proud descendants of the
Pharaohs and the Cecropidse demurred; but
finding their new neighboiu-s too strong to be
contradicted, they submitted with a good grace,
and consented to become their fathei^s and
brothers. A strict league was thus established
between the Scots and Picts, in which each
were to enjoy their own share of the land, and
unite as one people against every foreign as-
sailant. In the ticklish question of the royal
succession the Scots are also represented as
showing a most evident forethought about their
own interests: for they secured in this agree-
ment, that as often as the inheritance of the
Pictish crown should be matter of question, the
controvei-sy should be settled by appointing the
nearest of the woman's kindred to succeed to
the kingly office.

In this way every precaution had been taken
that the two races should have a common
interest and in time become one people. A
union, however, so advantageous to tliemselves
boded no good to others, and especially to the
South Britons, who even thus eiu-ly began to
dread such hungry and formidable neighbom-s.
They set themselves accordingly, only three
yeai-s after this alliance was formed, to inspire
tlie Picts with jealousy against the Scots, antl
with such success that war wiis proclaimed
between the two associated races. It was soon
' evident, however, on mustering their resources,
that the Picts, who ai'e described as the more
civilized people, being builders of cities and
cultivatora of the soil, were more powerful than
the Scots, who were only huntei-s and sliejilierds.
The latter accordingly appealed to their brethren
of Iielaiid for aid, who readily resjionded to
the c;vll : and Fergus, the son of Ferquhard, the
Scoto-Irish king, was sent to their assistance,
bringing with him not only a formidable army,
but what Wits of greater account even — the

Stone of Destiny, which would insure a firm
footing to their countrjTueu wherever they
were pleased to plant it. This arrival of Fergus
in Scotland is stated to have occurred three
hundred and thirty yeai-s before the connnence-
ment of the Christian era. The banner borne
before him displayed a red lion rampant on a
field of gold, which thenceforth beaime the
cognizance of the Scottish kings. The Scots,
who since their arrival in the country had lived
in separate tribes that were governed by their
owu chiefs, soon saw that such a divided rule
w:\s insufficient for an encounter with the war-
like and united Picts ; and therefore they chose
Fergus as their king, inaugurated him on the
marble slab which was now to find Scotland
for its resting-place, and entailed the crown in
hereditary succession upon his posterity. As
for the war itself, it was only an episode among
such important movements. No sooner had
Fergus led out his troops against the Picts,
than it was discovered by both parties that an
army of South Britons was drawn up at no
gi-eat distance to watch the turn of events, and
finally to descend and crush the wearied victora
whether they might be Scots or Picts. This
flagrant instance of double-dealing brought the
latter to a pause, and while the two armies
were still in suspense, the Scottish wives of the
Picts, in the old Sabine fashion, rushed between
them, and implored husband, father, and brother
not to imbrue their hands in each other's blood.
The appeal prevailed, and the former peace was
renewed more firmly than ever. The Picts and
Scots, now at one, resolved to turn their arms
against the Britons, by whom they had been so
perfidiously duped, and who now endeavoured
to effect by open manhood what they had failed
to accomplish by craft and cunning. For this
purpose they invaded Scotland in such nimibers
that both Scots and Picts were filled with dis-
may, until Fergus, by a well planned night
attack near the Water of Doon, routed their /
numerous army with great loss, and slew CoyI
their king. From the place where the sovereign
of the Britons fell the whole district received
the name of Kyle, which it retains in our own day.
As in many similar cases, the event was pro-
bably made for the name rather thiUi the name
derived from the event. It may be olkserved
in ji-i-ssing, that among the liberties t;ikeu with
the memory of King Coyl, Coul, or Cole, this
does not happen to be the least.

Having thus delivered the country, Fergus
dividetl that jiart of it which belonged to the
Scots into twelve districts, over which he
appointed his princi|ial nobles as lieutenants
or viceroys, and established such laws for the
preservation of order, that the very cattle were

34

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

safe iu the fields without the trouble of tending
them. He also buUt the castle of Berigon in
Lochaber, which became his royal residence.
After a reign of peace and prosperity, he had
occasion to pass over to Ireland to compose
certain troubles that had risen there ; but on
his return to Scotland he perished by shipwreck
on a rock, subsequently called Craigfergus or
Can-ickfergus, after he had ruled twenty-five
years.

As the Scottish chieftains had confirmed the
royal authority not only in Fergus but his pos-
terity, they were perplexed at his death upon
the question of a successor, his eldest son being
still a minor; but they at length solved the
difficulty by appointing Ferithais, brother of
Fergus, king, with the condition that the
children of the late sovereign should succeed
him in the throne. This order of succession
in the case of royal minors was also established
into a law that continued in force more than
twelve hundred years. But even already such
a rule produced its natural fruits; for, impatient
of his inferiority, and conceiving himself de-
frauded of his right, Ferlegus, the heii' apparent,
assassinated his uncle, and then fled to South
Britain. His younger brother Maynus suc-
ceeded to the crown, and after him followed
Dornadilla, Nathak, Reuther, and Reutha — all
kings in their turn, whose reigns were the usual
alternation of good and evil, of fortunate and
unfortunate, while even aheady the chief oppo-
sition with which Scottish royalty had to contend
arose from the Scottish nobility. The last-
mentioned king, Reutha, whose reign was one
of peaceful legislation, is noticed as the fiist
king of Scots who had wisdom to devise the
commemoration of illustrious men by the hon-
oure of a cairn. In these simple erections he
ordered that the number of stones should cor-
respond with that of the enemies who had fallen
by the hero's prowess; and, as writing was
still unknown among the Scots, the nature of
his achievements was indicated by the figures
of dragons, wolves, and other animals engraved
on the stones. Dm-ing this period, also, certain
messengers from Ptolemy, King of Egypt, as we
are gravely informed, came into the country to
study its condition and the manners of the peo-
ple. They were delighted to find, it is added,
the same language, habits, ceremonies, and
religious rites among the Scots, that were pre-
valent among the Egyptians.' This leai-ned
deputation, after having surveyed and explored
the whole land, wrote a full account of every
district which was incorporated into that "richt
crafty and proffitable werk" entitled the "Cos-

1 Boece in BeUenden.

mography of Ptolemy," which was afterwards
comjileted in the reign of the emperor Hadrian.
The next kings in succession were Thereus
and Josyne, the hist of whom was chiefly dis-
tinguished as an adept in the healing art and
patron of physicians. This reign was mai-ked
by a singular visit from two foreigners, who
had been shipwrecked upon the coast of Ross,
and were brought before the king. They are
described as venerable clerks, of pleasant visage
and almost naked ; but whether this defect in
clothing was a distinction of their sect or order,
or a consequence of shipwreck, the historian
Boetius does not inform us; and it was gen-
erally reported that they were priests of Spain
who had been wi'ecked on a voyage from Por-
tugal to Athens. After a short stay at the court
of Josyne, they were desired to declare theu'
opinion of the country; and in reply, they
stated that Scotland contained more within its
recesses than upon its surface, in consequence
of the rich metals and minerals with which it
abounded. Of this fact their scientific know-
ledge fully assured them. Their opinion was
then demanded about the religion of the people,
which they delivered with equal frankness.
They declared that the national faith was not
to be commended, as it taught the worship of
brute forms and images, after the fashion of the
Egyptians, instead of the worehip of that in-
visible God who sees and knows all things, and
whose Ukeness it is impossible to represent.
They finaUy advised, that this living and true
God alone should be worshipped without any
images, and moreover, that purity of life should
be cultivated in the hope of a reward hereafter.
The people, we ai'e told, were so gi-eatly moved
that they complied with the admonition of the
strangers; the woi'ship of Isis and Apis was, for
a time at least, abandoned, and a simple mono-
theism set up in its stead. But Fyuane, the son
of Josyne, who succeeded to the throne, adopted
a different coiu'se. He caused the deposed
images to be replaced in the temples, whUe he
was at the same time so tolerant, that he al-
lowed his subjects to worship what or whom-
soever they pleased. He also was the firet to
institute iu Scotland the order of prelates and
])riests, who, under the name of Druids, super-
intended the religion of the people, and trained
the young nobility in the arts and sciences as
they were taught in the schools of Athens. In
this quiet and unceremonious way, if we may
believe the statement, Druidism was introduced
into Scotland, from which it rapidly extended
over the island at large.^ A more creditable

2 And yet, a few years after, we have his son and successor
swearing to a solemn compact with his nobles in the temple

I

MYTHIC AND LEGEND AEY HISTORY.

35

statement given about this king than even his
tyonderful religious toleration, is to be found in
his just perception of the limits of kingly autho-
rity and the proper liberty of the subject ; and
liLs decree on this matter was, "that kings
should determine or command nothing of gi'eat
concern or importance without the authority
of their great coimcil."

We now pass over a long interval, and not
a few reigns, filled with tyrants, heroes, and
legislators, and with wai-s not only against the
Picts and Britons but also among the Scots
themselves — changes which, though sufficient
to have undone most nations, only seem to have
made Scotland more civilized and prosperous —
and hasten to the gi-eat epoch of Britain at
lai'ge from the hostile entrance of the Romans
into the island. It might have been thought
that the Scots, confined as they still really were
within the narrow limits of Argyle, could have
little in common with the distant events that
were going on in Kent and Middlesex. But it
"^tlid not suit our ancient chroniclers to imagine
that such a warrior as C'sesar could have entered
into Britain without attracting the notice of
their countrymen, and even tasting their prow-
ess. Accordingly it happened, that while Edeir,
King of Scots, after having " daunted aU in-
vadere of his realm," was enjoying his successes
in the royal castle of Dunstaffnage, ambassa-
dors arrived to him from C'assivellaunus, King
of the Britons, craving aid against "Julius
Cfesar, Roman Emperor, whose army was ready
with most awful ordinance to come in Albion."
No learning was spareJ on this momentous
occasion, for the British ambassadoi-s quoted
the downfall of Carthage as an argument for a
common resistance to Rome ; and the Scottish
chieftains, as if they had studied the whole
history of the Punic wars, were able to see the
force of the appeal. Edeir sent an auxiliary
army of ten thousand men to the sorely dis-
tressed C'assivellaunus ; and besides this, he
instigated Gethus, King of the Picts, to contri-
bute a reinforcement for the common defence
of the island. Opposed by three such powere,
it was not wonderful that Caesar was " doung
out of Albion ;" and that after his discomfiture
the Britons, Scots, and Picts parted the rich
spoil of his tents, and sat do^\^l to eat, drink,
and be merry. But unfortunately for them-
selves, the Britons became so arrogant over
their victory, which they attributed to their

o( Diana t In this way Boece has jumbled together the
Egyptian, Classical, and Druidical religions, and the theism
of the old philosophers, almost in a single hreath. Similar
statements occur in the mythic history of South Kritain.
where Druid circles and the temple of Diaua are mixed in
most admired disorder.

own prowess, that they displeased their bi'ave
allies, and refused their offere of aid when
Caesar returned upon his second expedition.
The consequence was, that Cassivellaunus was
defeated and compelled to submit, and the vain-
glorious Britons became tributaries to Rome.

After his conquests in the south Coesar had
full leisure to turn his attention to the Scots
and Picts, who had lately fought against him ;
and having refreshed his army in Loudon, he
resolved to dii'ect his march northward and
subdue the whole island. But before .setting
out, he sent ambassadors to the two northern
courts to demand complete submission, and
threaten war and destruction as the alternative.
The ambassadora harangued upon the power of
Rome and the hopelessness of resisting it; and
to convince their- sceptical auditoi-s, they gave
a glowing sketch of the Roman conquests and
triumphs, from the founding of the Eternal
City up to the jjresent period. After having
thus dismayed and threatened enough, they
changed their style of oratory into the soothing
vein, and described the benefits which their
rule had conferred upon the conquered, by the
excellent laws, order, prosperity, and refinement
which they had introduced into all their pro-
vinces. It happened, however, that the Scots
and Picts were as well acquainted with Roman
history as the ambassadora themselves, so that
they answered with a counter-statement, setting
forth the evils that had everywhere followed
the Roman domination; and this they expressed
in the good set terms of Grecian ilietoric —
evincing the happy efl'ects of the Athenian
education established among them by the Druids,
and how greatly they had profited by its lessons.
Their answers having shown that nothing but
war to the uttermost would convince them,
C;esar prepared in earnest for a northern cam-
paign; but before he could commence operations,
such tidings an-ived from Gaul as compelled
him to quit the island. It was perhaps in a
happy hour for himself that he did so ; for had
he persisted in his designs, such was the spirit
and valour of the Scots and Picts, that the
liberties of Rome, which were afterwards
crushed at Phai-saUa, might have been saved
at the foot of the Gramjiian Mouutiins by
Ca^sai-'s defeat or death ! Even this unfidfiUed
promise of invasion was still not enough for
some of our earliest wiitei-s; and Boece informs
us of a statement contained iu "our vulgare
croniclis," that Julius Caesar did actually enter
into Scotland — that he destroyed Camelon, the
princii)al city of the Picts— and that in the
neighbourhood of Carron he left a memorial of
his invasion in the form of a round house of
squai-e stones, tweuty-foui- cubits iu height and

36

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

twelve cubits in breadth. As no common hand
could have presumed to destroy the monument
of such a man, the infamy was ascribed to
Edward I., by whose order, it was said, the
tower was demolished.

After this period, and while the Roman con-
quest of the southern part of the island was
continued by the successoi-s of Julius Csesar,
the northern part remained unassailed, with
the exception of Orkney, which is represented
as having been subdued by the emperor Claudius ;
and Camelou, the Pictish capital, which was
plundered by his general, Vespasian. The
latter, following up his successor, is represented
as defeating Cai-atac (Caractacus) near Camelon,
and subduing Brigautia (GaUoway). This
Cai'actacus, whose renown was so illustrious
even in Rome itself, and whom history and
romance have equally delighted to honour, was
no petty chieftain of North Wales, as has
generally been supposed, but a king of Scotland,
and as such he is made to occujjy a high place
in the Scottish chronicles. Neither was he so
poor as is generally represented; for we are
told that after his coronation he received the
" huge treasure " gathered by King Metellaue
(his predecessor), and exceeded all the people in
Albion in riches. Seldom has the faith of a
believer in classical history received such a
shock as is given by this vei-sion of the life of
Caractacus. Undismayed by his defeat Caratac
ventured a second encounter with the Romans,
but was routed by Plautius, the successor of
Vespasian in the government of Britain. The
bold resistance which he still continued to offer,
the treasonable conduct of Cartismandua, or
Cartimandua, his step-mother, and his subse-
quent conduct before the tribunal of the
emperor Claudius, are related in the Scottish
chronicles, although with several additional
circumstances of which the Roman historians
seem to have been profoundly ignorant. On
being restored to liberty, Caractacus was also
re-established in a part of his kingdom com-
prising Brigantia, Kyle, and Cunningham.
The same chroniclers did not foi-get to mete
out a full measure of poetical justice to the
treacherous Cartismandua, for she was bui-ied
alive by command of Corbred, the brother and
successor of Caractacus.

In the meantime the Scots and Picts con-
tinued to m.iintain a gallant resistance to the
Roman invaders, in which they were so success-
ful that the latter were all but expelled beyond
the North British boundaries. At the same
time the. great revolt of the Britons occurred
ifa the soutjhf headed by Queen Voada (Boadicea),
-,^0 wliose^issiqS^ance Corbred her brother arrived,
, accompanied l>y the king of the Picts; and thus

Suetonius, the Roman governor, had not one
but three confederated armies arrayed against
him in the field. He was victorious, however,
in the engagement that followed, according to
the full testimony of Rom;m history, which our
old Scottish chronicles were not hardy enough
to contradict ; and Corbred after the slaughter
returned to Scotland with the remains of his
army, and continued to rule undisturbed, for
the Romans were too closely occupied in the
south to attempt the conquest of the noi-thern
part of the island.

After the death of Corbred the wars of the
Scots and Picts with the Romans were renewed;
the latter invaded Scotland, and battles were
fought with scarcely any decisive results, which,
however, are recorded with all the cu'cumstan-
tiality of a modern bulletin. Enough, however,
has been given not only as a specimen of the
tenor of these chi-onicles, but also to show how
unfitted they are as materials for the purposes
of verifcible history. They assume what indeed
was highly probable — that the people of the
northern part of the island were alarmed at the
Roman invasion of the south, and endeavoured
to resist the progi-ess of the conquerors; but
this scanty outline they must needs also fill up
with the fields on which the battles were fought,
the heady changes of every cuuflict, and the
names of the wise leadere and gallant knights,
both Scottish and Pictish, by whom victories
were won and deeds of prowess achieved.'

Of these wai-like collisions with the Romans
that occasioned by the invasion of Agricola was
the chief, and after the full, lucid, rational, and
eloquent account of the northern campaigns of
that general as they are detailed in the pages of
Tacitus, we seem, in turning to the same events
unfolded in our old Scottish chronicles, to pass
to a new coinitry as well as diflerent actors and
achievements. This transformation also has
been accomplished not so much by perverting
the principal facts, which were too well authea-
ticated to be denied, as by so modifying then-
character and adding to them, that they assume
a new aspect. A slight attention to these

1 From this medley of old traditions and classical history
Boece avows that he constructed his record, and values
himself upon the combination. His accomit delivered in
the following words (the translation is Belleuden's) shows
the manner in which ancient Scottish history was con-
structed:—" This history, in sa far as we have schawin i^f
Caratak, Corbreid, and Galdus. klngis of Scottis, is drawin.
sum part fra vulg,ir Croniklis, sum part fra Cornelius
Tacitus. For we have nocht onely writtin his sentence,
bot als his wordis ; that the redaris, b.aith of Eomane story
and Scottis, mtiy understand ilk history concordant with
othir, and knaw, be testimonial! of oiu-e ennime. how vail-
yeantly our nobil eUleris hes fochtin. for tliisrealme, aganis
Romanis. And to the mair prufle heirof, we have inserit
the eloquent orisonis of Galihis and Agricola, word in word
as Cornelius Tacitus rehersis tbaim, in this our quhat-
sunievir werkis."

MYTHIC AND LEGENDAEY HISTORY.

37

circumstances is necessary in order to uiider-
staud the mythic and unsatisfactory character
of our early Scottish history.

In turning therefore from Tacitus to Boece
and Buchanan, we find tliat Agi-icola had other
enemies to contend with tlian a single people,
or an army of naked barbai-ians. According to
the latter accounts, the Scots had already been
raised to such a state of civilization and refine-
ment as to be scarcely inferior to the Romans
themselves, while the Picts were equal if not
even superior to their neighboura. But besides
the formidable union of two such nations, who
were combined against the Roman invaders,
ambassadors had been sent from the Scottish
and Pictish kings to the courts of Norway,
Denmark, and Iceland, to crave assistance; and
the application was answered by powerful re-
inforcements of Danes, Germans, and Norwe-
gians, who arrived for the defence of Scotland.
Agricola indeed was victorious at the foot of the
Gramjiians — for how could a fact established by
the authority of such a writer as Tacitus be
afterwards contradicted? But if we may believe
our annalists, who winced at such a consequence,
the Romans did not purchase their victoiy
so cheaply, as they lost in it twelve thousand
soldiers. In his account of the preparations for
battle, also, Boece seems to have sketched the
Caledonian army and its equipments from the
military musters of his own day in the Borough
Muir, near Edinbui'gh — from that, in fact,
which had been summoned for the fearful trial at
Flodden. Besides the mere swords and bucklei-s
which Tacitus assigns them, the Scottish histo-
' rian supplies his Caledonian warriors with bills
and leaden mells, and arms their foreign aux-
iliaries with long-bows and " ganyeis," that is
missiles of various kinds. Nor does he allow the
Roman fleet, after its daring voyage round the
island, to return to port in safety; for when the
marinere came near the Pentland Firth, they
were so dismayed at the dangere of the ))ass:ige
that they arrested certain Scottish fishermeu,
and gave them tempting promises of rewai'd if
they would pilot them through in safety. But
these men, it is added, doubtful of the faith of
such employee, ran the Roman galleys upon the
rocks and quicksands, by which the greater part
of the fleet w;is lost.

But all this is nothing compared with what
follows. So little was GaIdus(Galgacus)daunted
by his losses that he even reappeared on the
field, and gave the Romans such a defeat as
requited in full his discomfiture at the Gram-
pians. The invadei-s were driven across the Tay,
and finally reduced to such straits by a series of
battles, in whicli Galdus was always victorious,
that their ambassadoi's were fain to crave of him

upon their knees, and in abject terms, the fav-
our of an unmolested retreat! And this they
obtained, but only on the most humbling con-
ditions. These were, that they should abandon ')
their Scottish fortresses, reliquish theii- plunder,
anil jjledge themselves to be at peace with the
Scots and Picts in all time coming. On these
terms a Roman army, originally sixty thousand
strong, but now reduced to less than a third of
that number, was graciously perm itted to retreat.
Even in the province, also, an ignominious wel-
come must have awaited theii' return; for theii"
authority was at so low an ebb among the
Britons of the south, that "the young wenchis,
gestauris, and commoun pe])il sang dailie
b;dlattis, in derisioune and skorne of Romanis."

After a long reign of glory and prosperity,
Galdus, the twenty-fii-st king of Scots from the
reign of Fergus, died, A.D. 1( 13. He was interred
with gi-eat jjomji, and amidst the lamentations
of his people; a stately monument, sculptured
with representations of his heroic deeds, and
surrounded with tall pillars, was erected over
his grave; and by a decree of Parliament (!) the
name of the province of Brigantia was changed
into Galdia (afterwards corrupted into Galuidia,
and finally into Galloway), to perpetuate his
memory.

After Galdus, his son Lngtak (Lnctacus)
succeeded, for whose moral portraiture Nero or
Caligula may have been the sitter. In fact the
original historian of these periods, whether
Boece or some eiulier writer, seems to have filled
up his outline — if outUne he had — with the {
court of Rome and the twelve Caesars, whenever
it was necessary to describe an event, or limn a
character, while, for the purpose of impressing
a Scottish stamp upon them, he throws over the
whole naiTative the mannei-s and characteristics
of his own day. Lugtak was succeeded by
Mogallus, a beneficent reformer and able
warrior, in whose reign the Romans \'iolated
the contract of peace into which they had
entered with Galdus, by invading Scotland;
but they were retputed by Mogallus with such
a defeat as that of Canme could scarcely have
equalled. In this battle it is evident that the
Scottish chronicles have wholly and giatuitously
su])plied the unpardonable omission of the
Roman historians. This invasion was followed
by that of Adrian; but the active enterprisuig
emperor could eflect nothing except building
tlie wall which went under his name. Mo-
gallus in the latter part of his leign was so
corrupted by the peace he had won, th;it lie
becjime an op])ressive tyrant and a wasteful
profligate. To him is also att^-ifr\tWI Ae
enactment of the law of forfeit ufi'. djSGST'''^
the estates of such as were coud|piuu[r ^ tfl.itli^

38

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

were escheated to the royal treasury, without
any portion of them being allotted to the wives
and children of the criminals. At length his
reign became so obnoxious, that he was slain in
an insurrection of his subjects, and succeeded
by Conarus his sou, who trode in the footsteps
of Mogallus until he was deposed and impris-
oned. This king also, like his father, owed his
downfall to a tinaucial blunder; for having
exhausted his revenues in debauchery and riot,
he endeavoured to replenish them by the im-
position of an income-tax, in which his subjects
were to be assessed according to the valuation
^ of theii- means; and he was told in reply by his
nobles in council, that " bawds, parasites, min-
strels, and troops of harlots were not fit instru-
ments for kings and kingdoms."

The next king, Ethodiiis I., of whose reign a
long and eulogistic account is given, was chiefly
occupied with wai's against the Romans, in
which he was assisted by the Picts. He
was so successful against these powei-ful enemies
that he broke through the wall of Adrian, and
defeated the Roman commander, TrebeDius.
He also subdued the clans of the Isles,
who even already ai-e described as having
commenced those wars against the Scots of the
mainland, which occupied so conspicuous a
figure in Scottish history at least a thousand
years afterwards. Ethodius is likewise repre-
sented as the author of those lumting laws,
most of which are still in force, having for their
object the preservation of game by the obser-
vance of proper seasons in hunting, and the
modes of killing them. It was a dexterous
device of the fifteenth century to hallow these
institutions, otherwise so obnoxious to the com-
mon people, by so venerable an antiquity and so
illustrious a founder.^

Not long after the reign of this king, the in-
vasion of the emperor Severus occun-ed, which,
however, is hastily dismissed with the assertion,
that sometimes the Romans and sometimes the
Soots were victorious. At this period Donald I.
was King of Scots, the twenty-seventh in suc-
cession from Fergus, and his reign was distin-
guished by two important events: the first was
the introduction of Christianity into Scotland,
to which he became a convert; and the second
was the use of coinage. It was a singular

1 The chief of these laws are specified by the historian as
follows : — No hare while sitting was to be killed with clubs,
arrows, darts, or any such weapons. None were to be
taken by nets or gins. No hare was to be killed in any
other way than by the chase of hounds. If the hare had
outrun the hounds by a great distance it was to he no
further pursued. No man was to kill a hind big with young
nor yet their calves. No hunting was to be used during
the season of winter or warfare, by which the deer were
driven down from the mountains to the plains in search of
food.

omission on the part of our chroniclers, who
talked of the great riches of the previous kings
of Scotland, not to make the slightest mention
of money.

Donald was succeeded by Ethodius II., an
imbecile sovereign who was murdered by
his guax'ds. Then followed Athii-co, a usurper
and tyrant, who slew himself in consequence
of a rebellion of his nobles; and he was suc-
ceeded by Nathalak, also a usurper and
tyrant, who was assassinated by one of his
servants. In all these events we seem to see
the reigns of the unhappy Stuarts carried back
to the second century. As if all these calam-
ities had not been enough, the dissensions of
court and kingdom were aggravated by the
ambition of the Lords of the Isles, who, not
content with the rank of robber chieftains,
advanced their pretensions as independent
legitimate sovereigns. At last Donald of the
Isles was strong enough to usurp the thi'one of
Scotland; but after he had occujiied it twelve
years he was set aside in the fashion of his jjre-
decessors, being slain by Craithlint, the son of a
former king, who thus prepaied the way for his
own succession.

From the time of Fergus I. the Scots and
Picts had lived in mutual amity, their chief
enemies being the provincial Britons and the
Romans, by whose formidable neighbourhood
their national jealousy against each other had
been held in check. The time had now arrived
when they were to be sundered for a war to the
uttermost, while previous resentments had so
greatly accumulated that a single spark was suffi-
cient to commence the conflagration. And that
commencement was nothing more than the theft
of afavoiu'ite hound belonging to Craithlint,King
of Scots, which the Picts had stolen in a hunting-
match. A fierce wai- ensued in which their
mutual danger was forgot, until Carausius
effected a reconciliation between them for the
jjurpose of driving the Romans out of the isl-
and, and establishing an independent sove-
reignty of his own over Britain and the adja-
cent province of Gaul. This distinguished
personage, commonly called Cai-ausius the Men-
apian, so justly renowned in Roman as well as
British history, was a military adventurer of
such uncertain origin, that it is impossible to
ascertain whether he had been born in Belgium,
Hibernia, South Britain, or the islands of the
Rhine, for in aU these countries the Menapians
had planted their colonies. Boece, thus finding /
him a waif in history, boldly claims him for his "i
countryman; and calling him Carauce, describes
him as a young Scottish prince, who, after hav-
ing committed the double crime of fratricide
and regicide, was obliged to fly from Scotland.

MYTHIC AND LEGENDARY HISTORY.

39

Having thus assigned him a local habitation as
well as a name, the historian details the adven-
turous life of C'arauce in Italy, until he had
raised himself to high place and renown in the
empire, so that the court was compelled to
appoint him governor of Britain, which he was
resolved to convert into an independent sover-
eignty. It was not wonderful, therefore, that
he was so anxious to reconcile the Scots and
Picts; or that, being a Scot himself and con-
nected with the royal family, his mediation was
successful.

This union, however, was not fated to be per-
manent ; and after the assassination of Car-
ausius, by whose energetic proceedings the Scots
and Picts had been successful against the
Romans, these rival peoples were once more at
variance, the cause of contest on tliis occasion
being that of the royal succession. The sous
of the deceased sovereign being minors, were to
be temporarily succeeded, according to the law
of Fergus, by the next of kin who was of mature
age; and upon this, three relatives of the late
king stepped forward, each asserting his claim
to the vacant throne. One of these three,
named Romak, impatient of the uncertainty
and delay of election, gathered a band of Picts,
by whose aid he drove his rivals out of Scot-
land, and placed himself in the royal seat. But
his usurpation by such foreign means, as well
as his tyrannical rule, was so offensive to the
Scottish nobles, that in the third year of his
reign they rebelled, and Romak was shiin, with
many of his Pictish adherents. This was enough
for the purposes of a deadly national feud, more
e.specially as Romak was cousin to Nectenus,
King of the Picts, and the latter invaded the
Scots with a numerous army. The battle that
followed was maintained with such rancour,
that not only he, but Angusiau the Scottish
king was slain.

The war thus commenced was .attended with
such unfavourable results to the Picts, that, in
their eagerness for revenge, they endangered
their national independence by forming a league
with the Romans and Britons for the suppression
of their less dangerous rivals. Accordingly a
large army of the three confederates entered
Annandale, Galloway, and other parts of the
Scottish territory, exercising great cruelty on
the inhabitants, and garrisoning the places of
strength with Roman soldiers. After an in-
decisive resistance, Eugenius, King of Scots,
met the enemy near the Water of Doon with
5(1,000 soldiers, but was encountered by a still
more numerous army composed of Piots, Britons,
and Romans, with Maximus the Roman gov-
ernor of Britain at their head. The King of
Scots was slain, and almost all Ids ai-my cut to

pieces. To this disastrous conflict certain paj--
ticulare are added which give it a character of
its own. The aged and feeble of the Scots,
who had been left at home as unfit for mUitary
service, approached the place of conflict to
ascertain the fate of their sons and kindred ;
but on seeing that aU was lost, they i-ushed upon
the weapons of the pursuing enemy and were
slain. After them came the women, still more
frantic and despairing, who also madly ran for-
ward and met with a simUar fate. After this
decisive conflict, by which the power of the
Scots was utterly broken, the Roman leader,
through Pictish instigation, issued a decree,
tliat by a certain day they should quit the
country and never return to it. This was in
very truth the va^ victis — the doom of utter
expatriation to a people who were defeated be-
yond tlie power of resistance. The women in-
deed, clothed in weeds of mourning, implored
for permission to remain, that they might pray
for their slaughtered husbands, and be buried
in their graves; but even this piteous appeal /
w;»s unavaiUng. Tlie Scots thus exiled departed ^
to the Isles and Ireland, othere to France, Italy,
Norway, and Denmark : they were plucked up
and thiown abroad, that they might wither and
disappear' as a nation among the heaps with
which they were mingled. The date of this
event is minutely specified in our old chronicles
as having occurred in the year of the incai'nation
379; from the firet residence of the Scots in the
island, 712 ; and in the second year- of the reign _-
of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.

Diuing the coui-se of this mournfid revolution
the greatest atfiiction of the Scots had arisen
from their old allies and kindred, the Picts.
Not content with enlisting the Romans in their
quarrel, and prociuing the sentence of banish-
ment to be passed upon their enemies by impor-
tunity, and even by bribes, they had carried on
the work of extermination to the uttermost,
slaying the last lingering remains of the people ^
wherever they could be found, and even though
Christians themselves, dislodging the priests
and Ciddees from their cells, and driving tliera
into banishment with the rest. But their
triumph was short, for they soon found that
they had exchanged an ancient ally for a new
ruler and t;iskniaster. They were required by
the conqiierore of tlie south to p-iy tribute for a
portion of the Scottish territory of which tliey
had taken possession, and to use the Roman
laws and none else, under a heavy i>enalty; and
wlien their king died, they were forbid to
acknowledge any other governor than sucIj as
was sent to them from Rome. The Picts saw
with indignant astonishment that their own
fate was worse than that of the exiled Scots,

40

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

for they were bondmen without having the
altern;itive of banishment ; and in this way an
old prophecy that had rankled in their minds,
and which they had endeavoured to avert, was
unexpectedly to be fulfilled, " That the Picta
should be destroyed by the Scots." These pen-
itent reflections did not come too late; and
they suggested the conclusion that to replace
the Scots in theii' ancient homes would be the
best means to avert the displeasm'e of Heaven,
and resist the tyranny of the Romans.

It happened very opportunely for this relent-
ing humour of the Picts, that the season of
atfliotiou and trial to the Scots had been matur-
ing a hero for their restoration. This was
Fergus, a j'oung prince of the blood royal, who
had been conveyed by his uncle to the Danish
court, where he was brought up in aU kinds of
warlike exercises, in which he made great pro-
ficiency ; and on entering into public life, he
was sent bj' the Danish sovereign to the assist-
ance of Alaric, King of the Goths, who at that
time was preparing for his memorable conquest
of Rome. Fergus wiis delighted with an
opportunity that brought him into hostOe con-
tact with the enemies of his country ; and in
the siege and storm of the imperial city his
services were so valuable, that besides a large
share of the spoil in rich jewels, he was re-
warded with a chest of choice books, which he
brought with him to Germany, and finally to
Scotland, where they were deposited in the
library of lona. To him the Picts sent mes-
sengere, but secretly, from dread of their watch-
ful masters, explaining their altered minds
towards his countrymen, and inviting him to
become the leader of both people against their
common enemy the Romans. The young hero
gladly complied with the summons; and, as
soon as he returned to the home of his fathers,
accompanied by a multitude of his own country-
men and Danish adherents, his arrival in Ai-gyle
was the signal of muster to the banished Scots,
who hui-ried from Ireland to join liis standard.
In this way the Scottish kingdom in Britain,
that seemed to have been utterly annihilated,
was suddenly restored to fuU existence; and
Fergus, the national hero, was unanimously
elected king, under tlie title of Fergxis II. Our
old Scottish wi-iters are delighted with the
identity of name in the fii-st and second foundeis,
and are at a loss to decide wliich of the two
should be accounted the most worthy of national
commemoration and gratitude. The date of
this most seasonable recovery of Scotland is

stated to have been a.d. 422, and forty-five
yeai-s after the expulsion of the Scots fi'om the
island.

It was now full time that Fergus should
maintain the crown he had so unexpectedly
won; and for this, indeed, the Romans weie
not slow to give him an opportunity, for they
soon entered Scotland with a numerous army
to chastise both Scots and Picts. The confede-
rates were equally ready to meet them, and
with Fergus at their head they encountered
the Romans near the CaiTon. But in the heat
of conflict, and while the river ran red with
blood, a shower of hail that involved the whole
field in darkness, pai-ted the combatants. After
this indecisive battle the Romans retired into
the province, leaving a pait of their army to
repair the wall of Severus, which had been
breached in many places ; and having accom-
plished this, they garrisoned its forts with
British soldiers, being themselves obliged to
leave the island for the defence of their own
country. Emboldened by their departure, the
Scots and Picts assailed the Britons, who made
but a feeble resistance, stormed and demolished
the wall under the leading of Graham or Graeme,
a gallant and successful Scottish leader, ^ and
committed wild havoc upon the ten'itory of
their enemies. But, decayed though the Roman
dominion was throughout the pro\'ince, its last
attempts to rally were still characteristic of its
former energy, and the advance of the Scots and
Picts was checked by more than one severe
defeat. In the chief of these, which occurred
in Westmoreland, Fergus himself was slain,
with his ally Drustus, King of the Picts, and
the principal nobility and leaders of both
nations. It was evident, however, that this
resistauee of the Romans must speedily ter-
minate; their hold upon Britain was now but
a death-grasp, which was hourly relaxing. The
time had come when they must leave it and
for ever; and having shut up the Scots and
Picts once more within the wall of Severus, and
helped the provincials to repair that of Adrian,
they bade their last adieu to the island. Then
succeeded the memorable "groans" of the
Britons, and the aiTival of the Saxons, by whom
not only the whole history but even the popula-
tion of Britain was commenced anew.

' Notwithstanding the renown of this warrior, and the
credit he has obtained of founding one of the nolilest
families of .Scotland. Ch.ihners reasonably doubts whether
such a person ever existed. Grime's Dilie, he sas's, was a
term given to a strong wall in general, from the word
gnim, which signifies strength.

C\

THE EOMANS IN SCOTLAND.

41

CHAPTER II.

FEOM THE INVASION OF THE ROMANS TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE
DALEIAD SCOTS (A.D. 80-503).

Roman accounts of cirly Scotland — Invasion of Agricola — His campaigns in Scotland — His gradual and
steady progress into the country — Co-operation of his fleet with the army— Resistance of the Caledonians
— They prepare with Galgacus for a decisive encounter — Speeches of the Caledonian and Roman com-
manders previous to the battle of the Grampians — Defeat of the Caledonians — Their distresses after the
conflict — Supposed site of the engagement — The ships of Agricola sail round the island — Wonders
beheld in their voyage — Recall of Agricola to Rome — Hadrian's Wall built — The Roman walls found
insufficient for the protection of the south — Invasion of Scotland by the emperor Severus — His death —
The invasion abandoned by his son — The inhabitants of Scotland under the titles of Scots and Picts
renew their incursions into the south — Distress of the prorincial Britons — They are abandoned by the
Romans — Their feeble defence of Hadrian's Wall — Their piteous and last appeal to Rome for aid —
They caU in the Saxons — The Saxons conquer and occupy England — Question as to who were the Picts
— Controversies on the subject — Statements of the Roman writers as to the origin of the Picts — Probability
that they were Caledonians under a new name — The ancient Caledonians a Celtic people — Arrival of the
Scots from Ireland into Scotland — Union of the Scots and Picts in their formidable inroads into the
south — Arrival of the Dalriad Scots from Ireland — Their settlement in Scotland.

Having thus briefly glanced at the early and
fabulous liistoi-y of Scotland from the earliest
establishment of its people to the downfall of
the Roman Empire in Britain, we find it neces-
sary not only to pause but to retrace oiu- steps,
and present the record from the Roman point
of view. It is true, indeed, that in this case
we pass from the partial statements of friends
to what might be regarded as the prejudiced
account of enemies. And yet who would hesi-
tate between the minute and unimp.as.^iuued
narrative of the eloquent and philosophic Taci-
tus and the wild legends of our early chronicles ?
Tacitus's biography of Agricola, which reduces
the condition of the Scots to its primitive sim-
plicity and brings their achievements within
their proper dimensions, was also their tiret in-
troduction to the jiage of sober and accredited
history.

In their progress of conquest it had never
been the custom of the Romans to leave one
part of a country unsubdued, or to allow a
dangerous enemy to remain upon the frontiers
of their rule. This of itself is suflicient to
account for their invasion of Caledonia or North
Britain, ii-respective of any resistance offered by
the natives to the progress of Roman conquest
in the south. Accordingly when Agricola, who
was appointed to the government of Brit;un
A.D. 78, had spent two years in the subjugation
of his province and the conciliation of the Bri-
tons to his rule, he resolved to enlarge the boun-
daries of the Roman dominion over the whole
island, and confirm its stability by cairyiiig his
arms northward. On this occasion his jirogress
is described by the great Roman annalist not
merely as a conquest but as a discovery of new

nations, whose territories he laid waste as far
as the estuary now called the Frith of Tay.

In the firat northern campaign of Agricola
the chief enemy that opjiosed him was the tem-
pestuous clim.ate, as the natives were struck
with such terror at his approach that they did
not venture an engagement. It has been con-
tended, however, that the Tay (Taus) of Taci-
tus was not the river known in later times
by that name, as Agi-icola, at the commence-
ment of his invasion, could scarcely have ad-
vanced so far ; and that the word used by the
Roman historian might as well apply to the
estuary of the Solway, or any other river. His
advance was made with caution and for the
purpose of permanent occupation, so that he
secured the ground he had gained, with foi-ts
and garrisons victualled for a whole yeai'.
These strongholds were so advantageously situ-
ated that, the historian adds, not one of them
that had been fortified by his direction was
taken by storm, not one w.as reduced to capitu-
late, not one was surrendered or left to the
enemy.

In the following year (a.d. 81) the campaign
of Agricola in the north was occupied not so
much with further aggression, as in securing
the acquisitions of the preceding summer. It
was necessary to fix a l)Oundary for the Roman
dominion in the island, and the ])lace he selected
for this purpose was where the wat«rs of the
Glottal and Bodotria (the Friths of Clyde jind
Forth) are prevented from joining by a neck of
land, where the two estu.aries are now united by
the Forth and Clyde Canal. Here he erected
a chain of forts, by which the whole country on
the south side of the isthmus was secure<I to the

42

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Romans, and the natives, as Tacitus expresses
it, were driven as it were into anotlier island.
It was on this site that LoUius Urbicus after-
wards erected his famous wall, known by the
name of the Wall of Antoninus, or popularly as
Graham's Dyke.

In the fifth year of his government, and tliird
of his northern campaigns, Agiicola directed his
operations against the tribes north of the Clyde,
for the pui-pose of making an impression on the
west side of the country. He therefore crossed
the estuary at Dumbarton, where Roman ship
had never floated before; and after passing
through regions till then unknown, and defeat-
ing the inhabitants in several skirmishes, he
reached the western coast. He now meditated
the conquest of Ireland, as he judged that this
island would prove a happy medium of com-
munication between the Roman provinces of
Spain and Britain.

In the campaign of the following summer
(a.d. 83) Agricola, fearing an insurrection of all
the tribes beyond the Frith of Forth, which
part of the country he had overrun but not
conquered, conducted his operations both by
land and sea; and therefore while his .shiiis
crossed the frith for the purposes of explora-
tion, the army marched along the shore, hav-
ing crossed the river where it was fordable —
probably in the neighbourhood of Stirling.
These combined movements on land and water,
Tacitus declares, "formed a magnificent spec-
tacle, and added terror to the war." It often
happened also that both soldiers and maiunei's
met in the camp at evening, and recounted to
each other the wonderful sights they had wit-
nessed during the day. By these bold opera-
tions on land and water the war was carried
into those districts which now compose the
counties of Fife, Perth, and Angus.

During the whole coui-se of these military
progresses the Roman march seems to have met
with little impediment. The invaders were in
such force, their movements were so cautiously
conducted, and the tribes in their I'oute were so
feeble or disunited, that they appear to have
swept onward unmolested except by such en-
counters as were too insignificant to be recorded.
Now, however, the war was to commence in earn-
est. The invasion had entered their own proper
territory, and the Caledonians were in arms to
repel it. Their hostility was also of the most
daring character; for without waiting to be
attacked, they fell upon the Roman forts that
had been erected to bridle them, took them by
storm, and showed such valour and daring that
some of Agricola's officera recommended a re-
treat. But that skilful leader continued his
march; and learning that the Caledonians in-

tended to assail him from various quai-tera at
once, he divided his army into three columns
to prevent the risk of being surrounded. On
learning these precautions the Caledonians
changed their plan, and, uniting their forces,
made a furious night attack upon the ninth
legion, which was the weakest part of the Roman
ai-my. The advanced guard was surprised, the
sentinels were put to the sword, and the in-
ti-enchments themselves broken through by the
onset of the bold barbarians. The din of battle
which arose from the camp itself quickened the
march of Agricola, who had leai-ned the purpose
of the Caledonians ; and when the ninth legion
had been all but overpowered, their enemies
suddenly found themselves inclosed between
two armies by the arrival of the Roman general.
After a long-contested battle in the very gates
of the camp the bai'barians were at laat de-
feated ; and had it not been for the neighbour-
ing woods and marshes, which favoured their
escape, Tacitus declares that this single night
encounter might have put an end to the whole
war.

The Caledonians, however, were far from
being dispirited by this defeat ; they had made
full trial of the Roman valour, and attributed
their discomfiture to chance and better gener-
alship, rather than any superiority of strength
and courage ; and they resolved to repeat the
trial in greater force and with better precau-
tions. Accordingly, while the Romans reposed
in winter quarters the Caledonians formed a
union of their tribes; chose for their leader
Galdus (Galgacus), dignified in the old chroni-
cles with the title of King of Scotland, but who
evidently, like Cassivellaunus, was nothing more
than a Celtic chieftain I'aised to the temporary
leaderehip of the clans from his superior mili-
tary reputation ; and having removed their
wives and children to a place of safety, they
repaired from every quarter to the rendezvous.
In consequence of these prepai'ations, when
Agricola opened the campaign of the following
summer he found an army of 30,000 Cale-
donians awaiting him upon the acclivity of
Mons Grampius, ready to meet him in daylight
and upon an open field. Nor were the Romans
unequal to such an encounter; for independ-
ently of the legions which were drawn up ;\s a
reserve in the rear and at the head of the
intrenchments, their centre was composed of
8000 auxiliary foot-soldiei-s and 3000 horse.

Galgacus, who had posted his ai-my with
considerable skiU, occupied the plain with his
first line, consisting probably of his own clan,
while the rest were drawn up line behind line
on the acclivity of the mountain ; and in front
of his army, upon the open field, where they

THE ROMANS IN SCOTLAND.

43

had full room to act, were his cavalry, and
especially his chariots, which formed so essential
an arm in the warfare of all the British tribes.
There they are described as rusliing to and fro
in wild career, and traversing the plain with
noise and tumult. Finding all in full spirit for
the onset, Galgacus is said to have harangued
his troops, an action both probable and proper
in such a crisis ; and although it is not likely
tliat he used the precise words or ample illus-
trations put into his mouth by Tacitus, his speech
was probably such as the occasion was fitted
to inspire. The Roman historian makes him
tell his followers, that, living as they did at the
extremity of the island, and with nothing but
the sea behind them, they occupied the last
refuge of British liberty, beyond which it would
find no home. He indignantly described the
Roman ambition, from which neither poverty
nor obscurity could be a protection, and the
oppressiveness of Roman bondage that crushed
alike every class, se.x, and condition ; and in
proof of this he adverted to the state of their
brethren, the Britons of the south. He then
spoke of the gallant resistance of the Trino-
bantes and their queen Boadicea ; while to
show with what success the example might now
be followed, he pointed to the Roman auxili-
aries of whom the opposite array was mainly
composed — Gauls, Germans, and even Britons
■ — slaves and hirelings, who followed masters
whom they detested, and who would be ready
to turn against them at the first reverse. And
who were the Romans? Men who had no wives
in the field to animate their fainting courage,
no parents to reproach them if they gave back,
no country at hand to kindle their patriotism
or witness their shame. AU this, and more, the
bold Caledonian is said to have expressed in
a thunderstorm of eloquent indignation; and
when he ended, his speech, the histoiian tells
us, was received "according to the fashion of
barbarians, with war-songs, with savage bowl-
ings, and a wild uproar of military applause."

Agricola also harangued his troops ; for what
Roman general could neglect such a duty
before he gave the signal of onset? But he
had no such theme as that of Galgacus to trans-
port him to the very height of soul-stirring
oratory, and therefore his speech w;is tame in
compai-ison, although his eloquent son-in-law
was the reporter. He reminded his soldiers of
the dangers they had surmounted, the toils
they had endured, tlie victories they had won.
Already they had subdued the bravest of the
island ; and would they now turn their backs
upon these Caledonians, the very sciuu and
refuse of Britain, whom they had lately so sig-
nally defeated in a night engagement and chased

into their woods and mora.sses? If they suffered
themselves to be discomfited now — now that
they had reached the very limits of the earth,
which one victory more would make all their
own — their dangerous route must be retraced,
and the whole work of conquest commenced
anew. "Here," he exclaimed in conclusion,
"you may end your labours and close a scene of
fifty yeai-s by one gi'eat, one glorious day. Let
your country see, and let the commonwealth
testify, that if the conquest of Britain has been
a lingering work — if the seeds of rebellion have
not been crushed — we at least have done our
duty."

The Caledonians, who occupied the rising
ground, had extended their ranks, probably
with the view of outflanking the enemy when
they came down into the conflict. Agi-icola,
who apprehended such a consequence, made a
correspondent movement of his troops, which
caused his officers to fear that he had too much
weakened his lines, and they urged him to call
up the legionaries to their support. But the
general, who was a mos*^ skilful strategist, had
resolved that the first weight of the conflict
should fall upon the auxiliaries, who being
themselves barbarians, could best oppose the
Caledonian mode of fighting, while the legions
were held in reserve till the moment when their
heavy simultaneous onset should decide the
victory. He therefore dismounted from his
horse, which he sent away, and took his station
in the front line at the head of the ensigns.
The battle commenced with a shower of missiles
in which the Caledonians had the advantage,
probably from theii- occupying the higher
ground ; which Agricola perceiving, ordered
three Batavian and two Tungiian cohorts to
advance and charge the enemy sword in hand.
This judicious movement changed the whole
character of the encounter; the unwieldy, point-
less, and brittle swords of the Caledonians and
their light small targets were no match in clase
hand-to-hand combat for the short, sharp, well-
tenii)ered falchions and broad, strong bucklers
of their opponents; and while the successful
Tungriansand Batavians pressed forward, over-
turning and slaying all that stood in their way,
and liegau to ascend the hill, the other cohorts,
animated by their example, followed with im-
petuous ardour, but rather to deepen the con-
fusion than add to the slaughter. In the mean-
time the fierce onset of the Caledonian chai'iots
had compelled the Roman horse to give way,
after wliich they drove at full speed against the
Roman infantry. But although the first shock
of these impetuous scj'the-armed cai's was ter-
rible, the unevenne.<« of the ground and the
firm embattled ranks that opposed them broke

44

HISTORY OF SCOTLAJSTD.

their career aud drove them back upon their
own infantry. Still, however, the Caledonians
on the hill were undismayed ; the bulk of their
army was untouched by these disastei-s, and,
confident in their numbers, they slowly de-
scended, intending to wheel round the field of
battle and attack the pursuers in the rear.
Agricola, who had watched this movement, in-
stantly ordered four squadrons of horse whom he
had held in reserve to charge the enemy in front,
while his whole cavalry from the wings were
directed to assail them in the rear. These skil-
ful movements, executed with a precision and
I'apidity to which they were unaccustomed,
astounded the Caledonians; their manoeuvre
had been turned upon themselves; and ;ifter a
g.-dlant but confused and hopeless resistance,
they were broken in front, flank, aud rear, and
chased off the field, whUe the Romans who fol-
lowed in close jjursuit did not care to encumber
themselves with prisoners. The whole ground
was covered with broken swords aud useless
targets, with overturned chariots and struggling
entangled horses, with dead bodies and mangled
limbs. Even yet, however, the battle was not
wholly ended ; the gallant barbarians who fled
to the neighbouring woods made a desperate
attempt to rally, and on several occasions in-
flicted a severe check upon those pui-suers who
followed them too eagerly. Agricola, seeing the
danger, caused several of his cavalry to dis-
mount and enter the woods on foot where the
openings were broadest and safest, while the
othei^s guai-ded the passes or scoui'ed the open
country. The Caledonians thus finding them-
selves hunted into their lair, and with a skill
that made resistance hopeless, doggedly awaited
their fate or fled to more distant shelters. Ten
thousand of their countrymen had fallen, while
the Romans, according to their own account,
did not lose more than 340 soldiei-s, among
whom was only one ofiicei-, the prtefect of a
cohort.

The Roman army passed the night in triumph.
Tacitus adds that they were enriched with plun-
der; but of what these precious spoils consisted
he has not told us, and we are unable to guess.
While he records the glee of the victore, he also
pauses with generous sympathy over the sorrows
and sufferings of the vamiuished; and ujion
that field of death which rang with shouts of
military glee were also heai'd the lamentations
of men and women as they searched for the
dead or bore away the wounded. Some of the
natives set fire to their houses, as they would
no longer be homes to shelter them; while
others slew their wives and children to save
them from the misery of a lingering death, or
the oppression and shame of captivity. On the

following morning, when the Romans looked
abroad, all was silence and desolation; the hills
were deserted, the houses were smoking ruins,
and not a native was to be seen. Even those
whom Agi-icola sent out to explore the country
could discover no trace of the fugitives.

Such was the memorable battle of the Gram-
pians, by which the Caledonians were firet in-
troduced, although somewhat rudely, into the
notice of the civilized world and the page of
accredited history. The precise spot on which
it was fought has perplexed the autiquai-ies
both of England and Scotland. This was to
be expected not only from the Roman his-
torian's imperfect geographical knowledge of
Britain, but from the vagueness of his expres-
sion, Mons Grampius, which might apply to any
particular mountain over the whole range of the
Grampians from Dumbarton to Aberdeen. But
by attending to the line of march that lay ojien
to Agi-icola, and comparing it with the state-
ments of Tacitus, the moor of Ardoch, at the
roots of the Grampians, has been fixed upon
with the strongest probability as the place of
the engagement. This conclusion has also been
abundantly strengthened from the tokens of an
ancient and extensive conflict that have been
discovered on the spot. It still shows the traces
of a large ditch extending to a considerable dis-
tance, such as those with which the Romans
were wont to surround then- camp. Weapons
both Roman and Caledonian, the relics of a
mutual encounter, have been disinterred from
the soil. On the hill above Ardoch moor are
also to be seen two enormous cairns or heajjs of
stones, the one called Cainlee and the other
Carnmochel, which were probably raised by the
Cidedonians, according to their national custom,
to commemorate those who had fallen.

As the aj-med confederation of the tribes was
thus so broken up that they could not easily
rally, and the summer so far advanced as to
make the continuance of niOitary operations
impracticable, Agricola closed the campaign aud
led his army into the country of the Florestians,
probably the modern Fifeshire. He also directed
the commander of the fleet to make a coasting
voyage round the island — an adventurous ex-
ploration which was successfully accomplished ;
for the Roman galleys, setting out from the
Frith of Tay, doubled the promontory of Caith-
ness aud Cape Wrath, then went westwai'd as
far as the Land's-end in Cornwall, after which,
directing their course eastward, they arrived at
the Trutulensiau harbour, supposed to be the
port of Sandwich in Kent. Resuming their
periplus from this point and continuing their
coui-se along the eastern coast, the fleet reached
in s;ifety the river Tay, from which it had firat

THE EOMANS IN SCOTLAND.

45

set out, and thus gave full jjiouf that Britain
is an island — a fact that hitherto liad only been
surmised. In this bohl voyage of discovery the
navigators liad also witnessed enough of the
wonderful witli which to astonish the landsmen
at their retui'n. They had caught a glimpse of
Thule, that mysterious island of eternal gloom
and snow about which their poets had sung as the
extreme point where the living earth joins with
chaos and nothingness ; and perhaps a distant
view of the coast of Norway had sufficed as the
gi'oundwork of the story. They also not only
beheld, but had taken possession of the Orcades
(Orkney Islands), although their conquest was
probably nothing more than a formal landing.
Even the ocean in some parts of their voyage
seemed to have almost changed into a new
element ; for in the neighbourhood of Thule it
was " a sluggish mass of stagnated waters that
hardly yielded to the stroke of the oar, and was
never agitated by winds and tempests."

During this voyage Agricola was leading his
army into winter quarters, but by slow marches,
to confirm the submission of the natives by
seeming to linger in their territory instead of
hastily quitting it. Of the place where his army
wintered we are not told, but it was probably
behind the chain of forts which he had erected
on the isthmus between the Friths of Clyde and
Forth. But here his Caledonian campaigns were
abruptly closed. The tidings of Agricola's vic-
tories and conquests had excited the envy of the
emperor Domitian, and the successful general
was recalled to Rome under the pretext of being
honoured with a triumph, but in reality to be
displaced from office and thrown aside into pri-
vate life.

The removal of this able governor and general
did not tend to confirm the subjection of the
south, and the oppressive rule of his successors
roused the provincial Britons to arms, and com-
pelled the arrival of the emperor Hadrian into
the island. After he had composed the troubles
of the south he directed his attention to the
Caledonians, whose incursions during the late
commotions had menaced the safety of the pro-
vince; and, A.D. 120, he attempted to bridle
their further aggressions by a new wall much
stronger than that of Agricola, but on the same
site, exteniling from the Solway Frith to the
German Ocean. In this way the prudent em-
peror expressed his conviction that the Cale-
donian conquests beyond this boundary were
not worth keeping, and might safely be aban-
doned. But the arrival of Lollius Urbicus as
governor of Britain clianged tliis pacific policy;
and after a successful northern cainjiaign in
which he is supposed to have advanced the
Eoman eagles to their old station where the

first Eoman invasion had planted them, and
to have occupied the whole intermediate space
within the bounds of the province, he con-
structed in 138 an immense rampart of earth
upon the line of Agiicola's forts on the i>thmus
between the Clyde and the Forth. This rampart,
called Antonine's Wall, fi-om the name of the
emperor Antoninus Pius, was thu'ty-one miles
in length, and provided with twenty-one foi-te;
while parallel to it was a ditch by which it was
protected, and a military highway that kept up
the communication Ijetween the different forts
along the whole length of the waU.

By these strong barriers the tribes of the
north living between as weU as beyond the two
walls appear for a time to have been reduced
to a state of forbearance. But their impatience
and love of liberty at last rebelled against these
restraints, and with such effect, that in the year
170 the Romans of their own accord abandoned
the debatable ground between the two walls,
and established that of Hadrian as the boundary
of theii' rule. This abandonment produced its
natural consequences: the Caledonians, eager to
recover their lost territory, broke through or
scaled the earthen wall of Antoninus, and in-
vaded the districts between it and Hadrian's
Wall, while the Romans and their tributaries,
who might easily have driven them back, were
uselessly employed in supporting the preten-
sions of Clodius Albinus to the empii-e, and
waging a wai- in Gaul in his behalf. The rights
of Eoman citizenship indeed had been extended
to these insurgent tribes by Antoninus Pius;
but the bribe w:is ineffectual with the Cale-
donians, who were either too ignorant to ap-
preciate or too proud to accept it.

At the commencement of the third century
the northern clans, after another interval of
peace, renewed their aggressions, being assisted
by the M;eat:i?, who ai'e supjiosed to have been
a tribe of Caledonians living without the wall
of Antoninus in the level country, in contra-
distinction to the Caledonians proper, who lived
at a gieater distance in the uortliern forests of
the higher grounds.' Tliese invasions roused the
spirit of the Emperor Severus,ata timewhen the
extremities of the empire began to be threatened
on every side : he was also anxious to drag his
two sons, Caracalla and Geta, away from the
profligate allurements and )iolitical intrigues of
Rome. Accordingly he arrived with his family
in Biitain a.d. 208, and pre])arcd for such a
merciless war against the Caledonians that it
seemed to have not conquest but extirjiation for
its object. In the comuiencement of tlie fol-
lowing year, he left the wall of Antoninus

' Cattdonia, voL i. p. IM. London, 1807.

46

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

behind him, and advanced into the territory of
the Moeatoe. His army, indeed, was so numerous
that the Caledonians would have been utterly
unable to resist it, and they appear to have
prudently abstained from the attempt ; but the
strong natural defences of the comitry — its
swamps, its naked mountains, and its poverty,
which so often in after ages repelled the invader,
impeded the progress and wasted the legions of
the ii'on-hearted old emperor more eifectually
than ten such battles as that of the Grampians
would have done. He felled woods, constructed
roads, built bridges, and drained m:ii-shes in his
toilsome advance ; and after losing fifty thousand
soldiei-s in this desperate war against natural
obstacles, he penetrated so far into the north
as to be able to notice the length of the days
and shortness of the nights, so different from
those of Italy, while the tribes, who felt their
helplessne.ss, surrendered theii- arms, and gave
up a part of their territory as the price of peace.
Scarcely had Severus retired when they broke
the treaty, upon which he renewed the war- with
such merciless vindictiveness, that his ordera
were to spare neither age nor sex. But Cara-
caUa his son, to whom the conduct of the war-
was intrusted, was intriguing for the imperial
succession, and more eager to keep his forces
entii-e for the ajjproaching struggle than to risk
them in a conquest of Caledonia. Accordingly,
his campaign in the north was nothing more
than a short military promenade, and when
Severus died at York, a.d. 211, it was wholly
abandoned. It was during this formal expedi-
tion, if any faith is to be given to Ossian, or at
least his modern translator, that Fingal and the
heroes of Selma must have won the most im-
portant of their victories. But the only early
historical trace of such mythic personages is
given in a form that scarcely merits notice.
Would such neglect have been possible, if our
fii-st historians had possessed but the slightest
records upon which to hang a plausible fable,
and to show that Fingal and his car-borne cliiefs
had routed "Car-acal, the king of the world,"
and made him tremble behind the shelter of his
heap of stones?'

The treaty which CaracaUa made with tlie
Caledonians at his abrupt departure from their

1 Even Boece gives up the mighty sou of Trenmor as a
personage eithei- too giautly or too ghostly to be enrolled
in a history of mortal men. He therefore introduces and
dismisses him with the following unceremonious notice :—
"It is said that Fynmakcoule, the son of Coelus, Scottis-
man, was in thir days ; ane man of huge statoure, of xvii
cubits of hicht. He was ane gret huntar, and richt ten-i-
bill, for Ilis huge quantite. to the pepill: of quhome ar
mony vulgar fabillis amaug us, nocht unlike to thir fabillis
that ar rehersit of King Arthure. And becaus his dedis is
nocht authodst be autentik authoris, I will rehers na
thing thairof."

country seems to have allowed them free range
uj) to the wall of Antoninus, and with this they
were so contented that nearly a century of quiet
was the consequence. But the wealth of the
south, the increasing mabUity of the Romans to
defend it, and the entrance of a new people into
the warfare who augmented the strength and
resources of the Caledonians, caused their in-
cursions to be renewed with greater frequency
and fierceness than ever. The iuvadera, no
longer termed Caledonians, are now for the first
time spoken of as two combined nations under
the title of Scots and Picts; and during the
fom-th and fifth centuries their attacks upon the
province were so daring, that the walls were but
a weak protection for those who had not courage
to man them. The Romans indeed endeavomed
to retard the downfall of their British possession
by the reinforcements they occasionally sent for
its defence ; but their own growing difficulties
at length required every soldier for the protec-
tion of Italy, which was as terribly menaced by
the barbarians of the north as was Britain itself
by the Scots and Picts ; and Honorius released
the Britons from theii- allegiance to the empire,
and informed them that they must now depend
upon themselves both for government and de-
fence. But the long subjection by which they
had been enfeebled, and the loss of the best and
bravest of their children, who had been carried
abroad to fight the battles of jiretenders to the
dominion of the empire, made the boon of in-
dependence little better than a mockery to those
who had no longer either hearts to prize or
hands to protect it. How small a price, indeed,
they set upon it, and how ready they were to be
still dejiendent on theti' late mastei'S, was evinced
by the tenacity with which they clung to Rome
when Rome had rejected them; and how utterly
helpless they were for self-government, was
shown by the feebleness of their resistance to
the common foe, by the rancour with which they
conducted their wai-s and feuds against each
other, and by the religious dissensions that held
them apart from all co-operation even while
their nationality was falling to pieces and the
enemy thundering at their gates.

In the meantime the Scots and Picts had not
been idle. That wall which Agricola had fii'st
erected, which Hadrian had so greatly repaired
and strengthened, and which Severus had in
many places so enlarged and built anew, that it
might have protected a people of ordinary
spirit for centuries, was first turned by fleets of
boats- that landed the invadere upon the coast

2 This mode of invasion is thus particularized by Gildas :
" The Roman legions had no sooner returned home in joy
and triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and
ravening wolves, rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold

AKRIVAL OF THE SAXONS.

47

within the forts ; and afterwards, when such a
circuitous route was unnecessary, the invaders
boldly stormed the ramparts, which by this time
they must have laughed to sconi. The defence,
indeed, which was made of them by the Britons,
if their own historian, GUdas the Wise, is to be
believed, was so puerile or so crazy, that none
but children or madmen could have adojited
it. Instead of posting sentinels, their whole
army kept watch and ward upon the wall ; and
thus, when they were benumbed with cold and
sleeplessness, they were despatched by tlieir
assailants almost without resistance.* And even
yet the Britons — the descendants of those who
had fought on equal terms with Cfesar himself
— continued to depend upon Roman assistance,
and their prayer to " ^tius thrice consul " was
the latest as well as the most abject of their
appeals. " If the fatal chance of time and
destiny," they wrote, "demands that tliis our
realm should be loosed from the unity and
friendship of the Romans, compelling us into
servitude to a barbarous people, we care not
what people have dominion over us, so that we
may avoid the tyrarmy of the Scots and Picts."
In describing their sufferings at the hands of
the enemy, they added, " they have now beat
down the walls and strengths which should
have defended us from their inflictions ; then
they have entered into the Roman province
with all manner of cruelty ; burned down our
towns and castles, razed our ramparts to the
ground, and slain our wives, children, and aged
people, besides numberless other calamities
which we may not wi-ite for grief. We, the
residue of them, are chased and driven to the
seas; and as we cannot pass through them
we are again driven into the hands of our
enemies."^

This application, as is weU known, was un-
availing, and the Britons began to look for
other defenders. If the letter from which we
have quoted may be received as genuine, their
resolution had been already adopted. It was
to risk a future danger, of whatever character
or amount, for the benefit of present safety;

which is left witliout a sliepherd, are wafted both by the
strength of oarsmen and the blowing wind, break through
the boundaries, and spread slaughter on every side, and
lilie mowers cutting down the ripe com they cut up, tread
under foot, and overrun the whole country." — Gildas,
translated by J. A. Giles. LL.D., Lond. 1841, p. 14.

' The following is the account of Gildas:— "To oppose
them (the Picts ami Scots] there was placed on the heights
a garrison equally slow to fight and ill adapted to run
away, a useless and panic-struck company, which slum-
bered away days and nights on their uuprotltablc watch.
Meanwhile the hooked weapons of their enemies were not
idle, and our wretched countrymen were dragged from the
wall and dashed against the ground."

>isede.

to submit, if need should be, to any other bar-
barians rather than to the Scots aud Picts.
And their choice was soon made.

At this time the people of Northern Germany
and the shores of the Baltic, pii'ates by profes- ^
sion, had, under the name of Saxons, caiTied
the teiror of their invasions to every coast.
Their friendship had also been as effectual as
their hostility was formidable, a fact that was
proved by the example of the people of Armorica
or Brittan)', who had applied to the Saxons in
their extremity, and through their aid had been
rejjlaced in safety and independence. Tliis case
of the Armoricans, who were a colony of South
Britons, was enough in the absence of other
considerations to turn the scale, and as a small
fleet of the Saxons were at present cruising in
the British Channel their assistance could be
immediate. Animated by these considerations,
Vortigern the British king sent an embassy to
Hengist and Horsa, the two chiefs of the pir-
ates; and these bold brothers, after having
listened favourably to the application, turned
their prows to the Isle of Thanet, which was
appointed for their future residence. Although
this reinforcement consisted of nothing more
than the crews of three Saxon warships, such
was the valour of these new-comere, and the
inspiring influence of their example, that in
the first instance the Scots and Picts were
checked, aud driven back into their own terri-
tory. But the work of the Saxons was not yet
ended ; they had seen the fertility of the coun-
try and the weakness of its occupants, and per-
haps the idea of a permanent footing on the
coast of Britain, from the superior facilities it
woidd afford for pii-atic<d expeditions, wa-i tlie
first and only suggestion of their ambition,
while that of an entire conquest was the after-
thought of favourable circumstances. Be that
as it may, they soon created these circumstances
by the family alliance which they formed with
Vortigern, and by the reinforcements of their
countrymen whom they summoned to their aid.
They were soon too strong to be dislodged, and
they pi"oceeded to occupy as masters the land
tliey had liberated as defendere. Tlieir con-
quest, indeed, was a work of time, but only tlie
more permanent on that account. From the
year 449, when they firet landed on the Isle of
Thanet, till ()47, wlien the}' drove the last oppos-
ing army of the Britons into the hilly country
of t'ornwall, the work of the Saxon conquest of
England w.is continued, and not of England
alone, but a large portion of that territory whicli
w.Ts afterwards to constitute a principal part of
the kingdom of Scotland.

In this way the Scots and Picts, l>y their
fierce aggressions upon the southern part of the

48

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

island, had occasioned the introduction of a new
people under whose ascendency they were fin-
ally to succumb. The Teutonic and not the
Celtic race were thenceforth to be the masters
of Britain. But before the latter disappear as
nations from our view, and become only com-
ponent parts of the new Scottish population, it
becomes necessary to inquire into their real
origin and character. Who in reality were
these Scots and Picts at whose early history,
both native and Roman, we have already
glanced, and about whom such learned contro-
versy has been waged I It would be an unpro-
fitable task for the historian to particularize or
even to enumerate the theories upon the sub-
ject which attempt to solve the question. All
we can do is to adopt the most probable answer,
without entangling ourselves either among the
{ objections that have as.sailed it, or the ai'gu-
ments by which it has been confirmed.

As we have already seen, the old Scottish
legends make the Scots the prior occupants of
the country, iuto which they entered long before
the commencement of the Christian era; and re-
present the Picts as a wandering people, who
arrived at a later period, and took possession of
those districts that were still unoccupied by the
Scots. By the same authority we are also told that
they continued to live as two distinct nations,
sometimes at war with each other, and some-
times in close alliance, even prior to the com-
mencement of the Roman invasion of Britain.
In turning, however, to the Roman accounts of
the inhabitants, from Tacitus who firet men-
tions them, to Dio and Herodian who lived in
the third century, we find no mention or hint
of any such twofold occupation. On the con-
trary, Tacitus speaks of those who fought
I against Agi-icola under the general name of
^ -' Caledonians, and describes them as one people ;
and it is uot till the close of the third century
that the Picts are spokeu of as inhabiting
Scotland and invading the Roman province.
Had they then stolen into Scotland toward the
end of this century, and made so quick a con-
quest of Pictavia that the Romans were un-
aware of it, or thought it an event not worth
announcing? In this way the difliculty has
been attempted to be disposed of by those who
consider the Scots as the earliest inhabitants of
the country, and the Picts an emigration of a
much later period. The idea, however, of such
a stealthy entrance and silent location is too
absurd to be gravely refuted. Would the
Romans, who spent so much in the conquest of
Britain, and who valued it so highly, have
allowed the intrusion of such rivals without
resistance, and even without notice ?

In spite, therefore, of the cavils of those

theorists who wish to find in the Picts a Teu-
tonic race by whom Scotland was entered after
the commencement of the Christian era, we are
compelled to rest satisfied with the more natural
conclusion that the Picts of the third century
were only the Caledonians of the first under a
new name. Roman civilization had been intro-
duced into the south of the island, wliile the
north was still unsubdued : and the provincial
Britons wore decent attire, while the Caledon-
ians wore little else than their own blue-pictured
skins. What more natural, then, than that the
latter shoidd be called Picti or painted men by
their better-clothed and more polished rivals;
and that a name thus given in derision should
afterwards become general and permanent,
especially when national hatred and warfare
had inci'eased with every year.

Supposing, then, that the Picts were no other
than the Caledonians, the next question that
occurs for solution is. Who were the Cale-
donians? Their antiquarian remains, their
nomenclature of places and objects, their divi-
sion iuto tribes, form of government, and other
ciicumstances, all indicate that, in common with
the Britons of the south, they were a Celtic
people. It is natural in their case to conclude
that they were, like their southern brethren,
the descendants of those who at some unknown
period had emigrated from the opposite coast
of Gaul into the island of Britain. The ques-
tion of settlement and possession would quickly
succeed then- safe arrival, whether they came in
one great torrent of emigration or by successive
waves; in this case the stronger would seize
the better portion and compel the weaker to be
content with the rest. According to this estab-
lished principle of barbarian conquest, the
twenty-one Gaulish tribes or clans that came
by the worse had nothing but the cold bleak
north for their portion ; they were thrust aside
or chased into the vast Caledonian forest and
the country called by the Roman writers Cale-
donia proper, comprising the whole peninsula
of the island lying noi'thward of the Forth. In
this way the original Gaulish emigrants of this
portion of Britain lost their first name, and be-
came Caledonians from the new home in which
they were settled. Thus the case continued till
the close of the thii'd centui-y, when the national
appellation was exchanged for a nickname, and^
that of Pict was heard for the first time. It
was bestowed by their enemies, and it was by
the same enemies that their deeds were recorded
— not favourably, but in wrath and hatred. In
this way the Greeks called all men barbarians
but themselves, while the Romaus made the
words /oe and foreigner convertible terms; and
as Picts the Caledonians continued to be spoken

AEEIVAL OF THE SCOTS.

49

of long after the practice of tattooing or skiu-
painting had been abandoned.

It is thus that we have the Pictish kingdom
extending over North Britain at the close of the
fourth centui-y. And stUl the Roman writere
make no mention of the rival kingdom of the
Scots. They indeed allude to a jieople of that
name, but only as the inhabitants of Ireland,
not of Britain. In that island their predomi-
nance over the native Hibernians had estab-
ILshed for it the name of Scotia before the close
of the third century, and as Scotia Ireland con-
tinued to be exclusively mentioned till the end of
the tenth or eleventh. From what coimtry they
had emigrated, and how and at what period they
entered Ireland, have also been made subjects
of controversy ; but all that can be clearly ascer-
tained is that they were a branch of the gi'eat
Celtic familj', that they used a dialect of the
same language as that of the Britons, and that
their government was of the same patriarchal
character, being tliat of separate tribes or fami-
lies instead of a collective people.

It was not till the latter part of the fourth
century that the Scots of Ireland appeared
upon the troubled field of Britain, and then
only as strangera and maraudere. Being of a
restless, adventurous, enterprising spirit, like
all the nations of the Celtic race, they appear to
have allied themselves at an early pei-iod with
the Saxon pirates, whose love of plunder and
adventure was congenial to their own. The fii-st
visit of these Scots in Brikiin appears to have
been made a.d. 360, when they invaded the
southern province; but although their arrival
was by sea, their visits were confounded with
those of the Picts by the writera of the period.
A few yeai-s after they renewed tlieir iuva.sion
in still greater force; and having allied them-
selves on this occasion with tlie Picts, their
united army was able to penetrate into the
heart of South Britain and plunder Augusta,
the ancient London and capital of the province,
until they were defeated by Theodosius, the
Roman commander. They repeated their at-
tempt A.D. 398, being joined as before Iiy their
new allies the Picts, but were routed with gieat
slaughter by the Roman general, who also re-
paired the northern wall. But this land-defence,
which miglit ])rotect the province from the
Picts, was no safeguard against the Scots, whose
invasions were conducted by sea, and who coukl
select those parts of the coast tliat best favoureil
their landing. It was after the union of two
such formidable and merciless armies as those
of the Picts and Scots th.at the attacks ujion the
Boutli became more teiribleand inccs.sant. It is
from this circumstance also tliat we can bettor
undei°stand the helplessness of the Britons, and

the desperate remedy to wliich they had re-
course.

As far as the Scots -were concerned, the
arrival of the Saxons in the Lsland quickly
changed the couree of action and adventure.
By sea the light cui-raghs of the invaders from
Ireland could scarcely hope to encounter with
success the strong well appointed war-gaUeys of
the new champions of Britain, while in battles
by land their forces were no match for the dis-
ciplined troops that marched under the white-
horse banner of Hengist and Horsa. In this
strait the Scots appear to have bethought them-
selves of the country of their friends the Picts,
as yet thinly inhabited, and where settlements
might be found without difficulty. At this time
also there were a people in the province of
Ulster to whom a new home was especially de-
siiable ; these were the Dalriad Scots, who,
having long been at war with the Cruithne
of Ulladh, a rival clan, were desirous to end
the unprofitable strife by leaving the field of
contest for a new country. Accordingly, under
the leading of Loam, Fergus, and Angus, the
tlu'ee sons of Ere, chief of the Dalriads, they
landed at the Epidian promontoi-y, to which
they gave the name of Caentir (C'antire) or
headland ; and in the partition of tenitory that
afterwards took place this district was assigned
to Fergus, who perhaps was no other than
Fergus First and Fergus Second in one pei-son.
In this way it has often happened in the mythic
history of a people that an individual hero or
public benefactor has been reproduced in more
forms than one, as well as a series of illustrious
personages been concentrated into a glorious
tuiit. This entrance of the Scots appeare to
have been eft'ected without resistance, but for
such a j)eaceful acquiescence on the part of the
Picts several causes may be conjectured. The
narrow promontory of Cantire was secluded
from Caledonia by a riuige of lofty hiUs ; it was
tliitdy inhabited by a tribe of Cambro-Britons
whom the Pictish clans were likely to regard as
aliens, and the Picts themselves were probably
too closely occupied in watching the progress of
the Saxon conquests in the south to care for
what was passing at such a remote and insig-
nificant point as the promontory of Epidium.
In the fui-ther division of the territory Loai-n
and Angus acquired for tlieir share the districts
that were subsequently impressed with their
names, according to the general custom of the
Celts, who thus commemorated tlieii- leadere in
whatever eounti-y they .settled. As their first
entrance had been without conflict, they were
probably too few to excite jealousy, and were
thus enabled to grow in iniiulioi-s and extend
their occupation by freab airivids of their coun-

50

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

trymen, until they had grown too strong and
obtained too secui'e a footing on the soil to be
easily dislodged.

It was in this manner, as far as can be
made out from probable conjecture aided by
the testimony of Venerable Bede, that the
Scots first became the inhabitants of Scotland.
The date of this arrival has been assigned as
A.D. 503. If this date is correct the event
occurred only fifty-four yeai-s after the landing
of the Angles in England. Thus a single life-
time of that period had witnessed two of the

most important events that have occurred in
our national history. These were the entrance
of two diflerent peoples almost simulfcineously
into the island, by whom not only two gieat
kingdoms were to be erected, but the very
names of the new occupants to be so indeUbly
stamped upon them that the old should utterly
disappear. North Britain and South Britain,
Caledonia, Albion, Pictavia, the Province — these
distinctions were to be merged in the two illus-
trious and distinctive names of England and
Scotland.

CHAPTER III.

THE PICTS AND THE SCOTS.

History of the PiCTS — Their territory — Pictish kings— Their wars with the Scots and Saxons — Danish invasions
— History of the Scots — Fergus their first king — Successors of Fergus — Reign of Aidan — Reign of Achaius
— His alliance with Charlemagne — His marriage with the Pictish princess Urgusia — Reign of Kenneth —
His device to induce the nobles to make war upon the Picts — He succeeds to the Pictish throne by his
descent from Urgusia — The Picts not exterminated but incorporated with the Scots.

At the beginning of the sixth century two
races had obtained possession of Scotland, and
the history of the countiy from this point be-
comes that of two rival and independent nations
lately united in the hour of danger against a
common enemy, but now ready to turn their
arms against each other, and strive for the ex-
clusive mastery. At this twofold history, which
continues from the sixth to the ninth century,
we can only bestow a passing glance, not only
on account of its essential insignificance, but
the contradiction and obscurity in which it is
involved. It would be well, indeed, if we had
stiU the light of Roman records to guide us
through the perplexing maze, partial and in-
suiScient though we have hitherto found them.
But it is here, where they are most needed, that
they forsake us; and in their stead we have only
the brief notices or contradictory statements of
such historians as GUdas, Bede, Nennius, and
Paulus Diaconus, who, although they lived while
the Pictish kingdom was still in existence, were
either too ignorant of its history, or too well
aware of its ajiproaching termination, to honour
it with a detail.

In tm-ning our attention in the first case to
the locality of the Picts, we find an insurmoun-
table difficulty in specifying the limits of the
kingdom of Pictavia, and the districts over
which it extended. The remoteness of the
period at which they are removed from us, and
the variety of races by which the diflerent dis-

tricts of Scotland were occupied, make it often
impossible for us to ascertain of this or that par-
ticular locality whether it was the home of the
Pict or the Scot. This uncertainty is increased
by the fluctuating character of the Pictish oc-
cupation, which seems to have expanded or
diminished with remarkable rapidity during
the course of the wars of its people against the
encroacliments of the Scots on the one hand and
the Anglo-Saxons on the other. Speaking in
general terms, it appears that during the greater
part of this period, commencing with the en-
trance of the Scots into Argjde, Pictland com-
prised the whole of that portion of the country
which is contained between the boundaj-y of the
Frith of Forth to the south and the mountain-
ous barrier that separates the Lowlands from
the Highlands of Scotland to the west. To this
may be added the kingdom of Cumbria or
Strathclyde, comprising the south-west portion
of Scotland, which, being a territory inhabited
by a Welsh population, is usually considered a
province of Pictavia. The Orkney Islands and
the Hebrides ai-e also supposed to have formed
a part of the Pictish dominions. Other portions
to the south of the Forth, and even as far as to
the Humber, at one time also were pai't of Pic-
tavia, until they were wrested from it by the
progress of Saxon aggression. Such was Pict-
land, with Abernethy for its capital. From
this general notice it will be seen that the ter-
ritory still possessed by these descendants of

THE PICTS.

51

the ancient Caledonians was of large extent and
resources, even when the Scots were enabled to
establish a rival kingdom upon its border.

Of the Pictish kings who reigned dui-ing this
period of less than four centuries, forty are
enumerated whose names and history have been
extracted from the Celto-Scottish and Irish
chronicles,' a list than which, Chalmers declares,
" there is nothing more authentic or satisfactory
in the early annals of any country." But be
that as it may with regard to their names, and
the mere fact of their having actually existed,
the history of theii' achievements is neither
sufficiently certain to be accepted, nor yet im-
portant enough to be detailed. They seem in-
deed to have lived for evil or for good, and to
have been jirosperous or unfortunate according
to the pleasure of their historians, who wrote
when there were none to conti-adict them. A
brief notice, therefore, of the Pictish kings may
be sufficient for our purpose.

The first of these, Drust, the son of Erp,
eulogized as the fortunate leader of a hundred
battles, is recorded as the hero under whose
successful attacks the Roman empire in South
Britain passed away. A hundred years suc-
ceeded, which were occupied by twelve Pictish
sovereigns in the usual quick succession of the
time and country; but the silence of the record,
except as to their names, indicates that happy
state of peace which neither needs a hero to
achieve great deeds nor a historian to rehearse
them. But even this national blessing was sus-
picious, as it was occasioned merely by the
Saxon conquest of England on the one side of
Pictavia, and the consolidation of the Scottish
clans on the other. Then succeeded Bridei,
A.D. 556, whose reign was of a different char-
acter; for he defeated the Scots, whose king
Gauran he slew, and was convei-t^d to Chris-
tianity by the preaching of St. Columba. The
demise of Bridei was followed by another long
interval of peaceful obscurity, when another
Bridei, the son of Bill, after the lapse of a hun-
dred yeai's, succeeded to the Pictish throne, and
signalized himself in a war against Egfrid, King
of Northumbria. This sovereign invaded Pict-
land, and advanced as far as Dunnichen, but
w;is there defeated and slain by the Pictish
king. Aided by the Britons and Scots, Bridei
then carried his successful arms into Northum-
bria, and inflicted such havoc that this kingdom
never afterwards recovered its former ascen-
dency in the heptarchy. This war against
Northumbria contiuued for nearly a quarter of

> By Father Innes in Chronica dc Origine Antitjuontm
Piclonim. See also Chalmers' CaUdnnia. vol. i. p. 206,
London, 1807, and Pinkerton's Tables at the end of vol. L
of his Itujuiry into Uie History of Scotland.

a century; but it was closed with disaster in
710, when Bridei, the son of Dereli, the fourth
of the name among the kings of Pictland, was
defeated and slain at the battle of Mauaufield
by the Saxons. But stUl worse than these con-
tests with a national enemy, was a civil war
that occuired among the Picts themselves about
the year 724, of which the cause was that fruit-
ful source of Celtic controversy and bloodshed —
the royal succession. Into the merits of this
warfare it would be unnecessary to enter even
if it were intelligible : it exliibits royal preten-
sions which we are unable to appreciate, and
claimants for whom we can feel no interest,
whDe the battles they occasioned were shifted
over the whole of Pictland with various for-
tunes, but disastrous consequences to the king-
dom at large. From this strife for the sove-
reignty Ungus emerged as the most successful
of the competitors. On ascending the throne
Ungus signalized liLs long reign of thiity-one
year's by ware against the Scots, the Northum-
brians, and the Britons of Cumbria, and in
almost every case with success; and he died a
death of peace, with the reputation of having
been the greatest and most warlike of all the
Pictish kings.

These ware, however, against so many power-
fid enemies, combined with their own civil
dissensions, had weakened the power of the
Picts, when a new enemy entered upon the field,
as formidable as any they had yet encountered,
to accelerate their coming downfall. These were
the pirates of the Baltic, the northern Tikingr,
who, under the name of Danes, firet appeared
in England in 832, and afterwards repeated
their visits with such terrible effect until near
the time of the Norman conquest. Even before
this period their war-gaUeys had cast anchor in
the bays of the rugged coast of Scotland, not,
however, for the jiurposes of plunder, of which
there was little to be found, but with the design
of permanent occupation, and to acquire a more
ample seaboard for their vocation of piracy
and plunder. During the same century (a.d.
839), after cai-rying tlieir devastations into the
Hebrides, they invaded the mainland of Pic-
tavia, upon wliicli Uen or Owen, the king, hur-
ried to its defence. But in the conflict which
he ventured with these terrible antagonists,
who might now be reckoned the mo.st fearless
warriors of the age, he fell, along with his l>ruther
Brun, and the gi-eater part of his chiefs anil
soldiei-s. With this fatal defe^it Pictland ceases
to have a separate nation.al history, as only four
years .ofterwanis Kenneth tlie Scot occupied
its throne, and establishe<l upon it a Scottish
dynasty.

We now turn to the history of the Dahiad

52

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Scots who accomplished this important change
and became the predominant people of the
country. From their narrow settlement upon
the promontory of Cantire they soon extended
themselves over the whole of Ardgael (Argyle),
which became the kingdom of Fergus and his
sept, while Loam and Angus, his brothers, in
like manner became the sovereigns of Lorn and
Islay. Of these three branches of tlie Dalriad
immigration that of Fergus, although he did
not possess the right of primogeniture, appears
to have obtained the ascendency, and the kings
of tlie Scoto-Irish for the most part belonged to
this dominant family. But as we have already
seen, the kingly authority over a collection of
Celtic tribes was little more than nominal, un-
less the individual who held it was superior to
all his brother chiefs in courage and abilities as
well as in title. The right also of the house of
Fergus to monopolize this precai-ious sovereignty
was often a ground not only of question but
also of quarrel between them and the descend-
ants of Loaru, who is represented as the eldest
of the brothers. But this was not the worst,
for the race of Fergus was also divided against
itself; and between two rival branches that bore
the names of the race of Comgal and the race
of Gauran wars were frequently occurring, by
which the royal succession was shifted from the
one family to the other. This brief explanation
wiU suffice to show not only how slight a claim
to notice the history of these early Scots pos-
sesses, but also how little it is entitled to im-
plicit credence. It will also justify the short
notice which we bestow upon the twenty-nine
kings who are recorded to have reigned from
Fergus, the son of Ere, the first Dalriad sove-
reign in Scotland, to Kenneth Mac Alpin, by
whom the Pictish monarchy was subverted.

The reign of Fergus over his petty dominion
continued only three yeai-s ; but during this
brief space he became, in consequence of the
death of his two brothers, the sole king or
patriarchal chief of his emigi'ant countrymen in
Scotland. He was succeeded by his son Doman-
gurt, who, after a short and obscui'e reign of
five years, died, and left two sons, Comgal and
Gauran, who reigned successively, the first for
thu-ty-two and the second for twenty-two year's.
It was the fate of Gauran, however, to enter
into hostilities witli the Picts — an event that
must sooner or later have occm'red between two
such neighbours, and of which this seems to
have been the commencement ; and in the
battle that ensued between him and Bridei, the
fij'st of the five Pictish kings who bore that
name, he was defeated and slain. He was suc-
ceeded by Conal, the son of his brother Comgal,
to the prejudice of his own family; and thus

was laid the groundwork of a war of succession
that produced years of confusion and blood-
shed. The reign of Conal, which lasted fourteen
yeare, seems to have been either inglorious or
positively disastrous, and the chief event that
signalized it was the protection he afforded to
Columba; but as the saint was of the same
royal house as himself, being gi'eat-gi-andson of
Loai-n, and yet not likely to become a claimant
for the throne, which was occupied by himself
as the great grandson of Fergus, Con.al could well
afibrd to give way to such a strong tie of Celtic
relationship, aud invest Columba with the island
of lona in perpetual possession. The last years
of Conal were clouded by competition from a
very dift'erent quarter. It came from the rival
house of Gauran, whose claims were inherited
by Aidau, and who souglit by force of arms to
supplant Donnacha, the son of Conal. The con-
sequences of this feud were that Donnacha fell
before his victorious rival in the battle of Loro,
and the tribe of Comgal wliich he represented
was driven into Argyle, while that of Gauran
obtaiued the more desirable portion of Cantire,
as well as the Scottish crown, in the pei-sou of
Aidan, its enterprising chieftain.

The reign of Aidan was not only distinguished
by important events, but by superior fulness and
clearness in their record ; and this last distinc-
tion his memory mainly owes to his connection
with Saint Columba, who was fortunate in his
biographei-s. His accession occurred a.d. 574,
aud he was inaugurated at the sacred island of
lona by the saint himself, whose princely birth,
high character, and apostolic labours had ob-
tained for him double reverence from the
Dalriad Scots. After Aidan had signalized his
right to the thi'one by his victory at Loro, he
made war in 577 with the Britons of Strath-
clyde, but was defeated by Rydderach the Boun-
tiful, their king, on the height of Arderyth.
This conflict, however, was so paltry or so inde-
cisive that it is contemptuously styled in the
Welsh triads the nugatory battle of Britain.
He aided the Britons of Cumbria, and Mulgan
theii- king, against the Saxons, whom he de-
feated A.D. 584 at Fethanlea on Stanmore. He
again defeated them in 590 at the battle of
Leitredh, in which two of his sons were slain.
His chief conflicts, indeed, were with the Anglo-
Saxons of Northumbria under their king Ethel-
frid, and the Picts who were allied with them ;
and although his victories were numerous he
also sidfered such reverses as were sufficient to
hold in check the advancing power of the Scots.
It was well for them, however, that against
such formidable enemies as the confederate
Saxons and Picts they had such a leader as
Aidan, by whom they were enabled at least to

THE SCOTS.

53

maintain their ground. During the course of
this changeful and protracted warfare Aidan,
accom]janied by Columba, appeared at the
Council of Drumkeat in Ulster (a.d. 590) and
obtained the relinquishment of homage which
had hitherto been paid by the Scottish kings
of Cantire to the sovereigns of the parent king-
dom of Dalriada. A reign that was both use-
ful and glorious on the wliole, and extended to
the unusual length of thirty-four yeai-s, was
closed amidst sorrow and dLsaster. Worn out
with age, Aidan dragged himself to the field
for his last conflict with the merciless .and per-
tinacious Ethelfrid, who had assailed his terri-
tory with an army of Northumbrians and Picts;
but in the battle which ensued at Dawstane the
Scottish hero w.is utterly defeated and com-
pelled to seek safety in ignominious flight.
Soon after his return tidings reached him of the
death of the holy Columba, his spiritual father
and instructor; and foreseeing the jeopardy to
which the infant church would be exposed by
such a loss, he soon after expired (a.d. 604), at
the age of eighty, and was buried in the church
of Kilcheran in Campbelton.

After Aidan a line of kings succeeded whose
obscure and contradictory history, even if it
could be effectually cleared, would scarcely re-
compense the trouble. They are dignified with
the roy;d title notwithstanding their limited
rule and contested authority; and although
their grandeur and political importance are
magnified into full-blown regality by Fordun,
Boece, and Buchanan, yet in the Ulster Annals
and Gaelic Chronicles they shrink into petty
dimensions, and are merely reguli or chiefs of
the clan that happened for the time to be upper-
most. Their wais against their national enemies
the Picts and Saxons were intermingled with
feuds still more numerous and sanguinary
among themselves ; and in these heady contests
the prize at issue was this barren sceptre or
leading-staff, which shifted from the Fergusian
branch of Comgal to that of Gam-an, and from
the family of Fergus itself to that of Loarn,
with most bewildering rapidity. And yet these
are the ages which antiquarianism liii-s delighted
to investigate, and the quarrels which it has
endeavoured to explain and reconcile ! Com-
pared with this confusion, the perplexing and
discord.-uit contemporaneous history of the hep-
tarchy of England becomes both luminous and
important. Yet one essential fact is to be de-
duced from this chaos of names and achieve-
ments, which is that the Scottish race, originally
so few in numbera and so limited in means, liad
been growing in importance and power, by
which they were enabled at the commence-
ment of the ninth century to hold their own

against the utmost efforts of Briton, Pict, and
Saxon.

Of all those kings the most distinguished was
Eocha', the fourth of that name, and a descend-
ant of the Gauran dynasty, who ;mcended the
throne in 796. His abilities were chiefly occu-
pied by the contentious of the rival clans, which
he had the wisdom and good foi-tune to recon-
cile as well as rule. But though this was much
it was not sufficient for our early Scottish his-
torians, and therefore the name of this Eocha',
which is nothing but plain Hugh, they have
latinized into the sounding one of Achaius, and
aggrandized with a record of which his country-
men might weU be proud. For, according to these
writei-s, he quelled the Irish who invaded Scot-
land, aided the Picts in their successful ware
with the Saxons, and founded the chivalrous
order of the Thistle, for the encouragement of
those gallant knights by whom his august court
was adorned and his prosperous reign signalized.
His fame in consequence of these achievements
was so greatly magnified abroad that Charle-
magne himself courted his alliance and sought
his aid for the defence of France against the
invading Saracens. And here the imagination
of Boece absolutely i-uns riot upon this last por-
tion of the history of Achaius, which Fordun
only modestly and briefly touches, and Buchanan
passes over in silence. He tells us that William,
the brother of Achaius, crossed the seas, not
only with a reinforcement of gallant Scottish
soldiers to assist the Franks, but with four
learned Scottish doctors to enlighten their igno-
rance. The deeds of William were so chivalrous
as to throw those of all the Paladins of France
into the shade, so that he obt;iined the title of
the "Knight without Eeproacli;" and he was
so honomed by the fair city of Florence, to
which he was a notable benefactor, that the citi-
zens assumed the red lily of the Scottish arms
for then- civic cognizance, and ordained a cerUviu
number of lions to be fed yearly at the public
expense, in honour of the supportei-s of our
national blazonry. Nor were the peaceful
achievements of the Scottish doctoi-s less illus-
trious. They became so famous by their teach-
ing that Paris was soon the resort of pupils and
learned mastei-s from every country in Europe;
and in consequence of this brilliant commence-
ment of a new epoch in the history of France the
universities of Paris and Pavia were founded,
and two of these erudite strangere placed at
their head.

More importimt events to Scotland, however,
were ripening during the reign of Achaius than
visionary treaties and chivalric institutions, and
these also not to be effected by the swoi-d,but bya
peaceful matrimonial alliance. The kiugespoused

54

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

the Princess Urgusia, daughter of Urguis, king
of the Picts, and thus established hereditary
claims in his own house should the royal suc-
cession fail in Pictavia, which his descendants
were not likely to overlook. On the death of
Achaius, which occurred a.d. 826, after a reign
of thirty years, he was succeeded by Dungal, of
the house of Loarn. After a short reign of
seven years, in which it seems there was little
or nothing worth commemorating, this king was
succeeded by Aljiin, son of Achaius by the
Pictish princess Urgusia. At this time the
crown of Pictavia was contested by Dreat, his
mother's nephew, against a pretender named
Talorgan; and, eager to support the rights of his
cousin, Alpiu embarked an armament from
Cantire, and landing on the coast of Kyle, laid
waste the country between the rivers Ayr and
Doon, and advanced to the mountain range
which separates Kyle from Galloway; but here
his career was cut short in a petty skirmish
against the Picts. His head, it is added, was
cut off, and paraded in triumph before the whole
Pictish army, after which it was set up on the
most conspicuous place in their capital of Aber-
nethy for the scorn and derision of the rabble.
But little did they foresee the reverse that was
at hand, or the price they were to pay for their
barbarous merriment.

After this tragical close of a short reign of
three yeare Alpin was succeeded by his son
Kenneth. His first wish was to revenge the
ignominious death of his father ; but strangely
enough he found his chieftains, especially the
elder part of them, exceedingly averse to the
performance of this most urgent as vifell as most
congenial of all Celtic moral duties: they alleged
that the country was too much weakened by the
recent disaster to carry his purpose into effect,
and all that he could obtain from then^ was
their consent to a hollow truce instead of an
immediate war with their remorseless enemies.
The truce continued for three yeai-s, and threat-
ened a much longer duration, when Kenneth
resolved to break it by an appeal to the super-
stitious feelings of his loitering and peace-loving
nobles. The manner in which it was effected,
as first detailed briefly by Fordun, but amplified
in the pages of Boece and Buchanan, was suffi-
ciently characteristic of the times and the real
condition of the people. Having invited his
chiefs to a banquet, Kenneth so successfully
plied them with good cheer and hard drinking
that the night waxed late, and they were per-
suaded to remain in the palace till morning —
an easy extension of hospitality, where the floor
of the banquet-hall served for a bed, and the
leaves with which it was bestrewn for pillow
and coverlet. When all was silence and sleep

the a2)artment was suddenly lighted up by a
glittering apparition ; a voice of thunder called
the sleepers toawake,aud obey thewillof Heaven
and their king by going instantly to battle
against the Plots — and on raising then' confused
heads the astounded senators beheld a shining
form, such as they thought the angels alone
should wear, while the tones in which he sum-
moned them could proceed from no mortal
organs. Having delivered his mandate the
heavenly messenger suddenly vanished, and all
was again silence and darkness.' But the angel
was no other than a young kinsman of Kenneth
ai-rayed in a garment made of the glittering
skins of dried codfish, who proclaimed his mes-
sage through a speaking-trumpet, and then made
a harlequin exit by a side door. All this, how-
ever, was too much for the brains of these chief-
tains whether drunk or sober to fathom, and on
assembling before the king on the morning
they were as loud for war as formerly they had
been urgent against it. A merciless campaign
followed, in which, if we may believe the his-
torians already mentioned, the whole Pictish
nation was utterly swept away.

It is time, however, to turn from this
phantasmagoria of war and onset to that cold
faint outline which is all that the Scottish his-
tory of this i^eriod can really present to us for
our ready belief. On the death of Alpin not
only his kingdom but his new claims of family
inheritance descended to his son Kenneth. And
that inheritance was not to be a trivial or formal
one, as was shown by the result; for the rivalry
among the various pretenders to the Pictish
throne, and the rapidity with which they suc-
cessively disappeared, brought him step by step
to that enviable eminence as the grandson of
the Princess Urgusia. At length, when no one
remained between him and the succession Ijut
Wred, tlie last of the Pictish kings, Kenneth
speedily overthrew this feeble sovereign and
stepped into his room (a.d. 843). He united in his
single person the rights of force, good fortune, and
hereditary claim ; and their combined influence,
as might be expected, was irresistible, so that
it could hardly be otherwise than that Kenneth,
Scot though he was, should become king of
Pictavia. As for the Picts, it is also equally
probable that they acquiesced, however reluc-
tantly, in this transference of their sceptre, be-
cause there was no other nearer, or at least more

' The three historians evidently adapt the tale to their
own sense of what was fittest or likeliest in such an experi-
ment in thaumaturgy, and accordingly each delivers it in
a different form. Thus Boece, who furnishes each sleeper
Avith a bedroom, also provides a separate apparition for
each of them, and is therefore obliged to enlist not one,
but a whole troop of masiiueraders for this midnight per-
formance.

UNION OF PICTS AND SCOTS.

55

powerful claimant; and thus the line of Fergus,
the first Scottish king, whose dominion was
limited to the petty principality of Cantire, ob-
tained at last the entire sovereignty of the
country. This union of the two hostOe portions
into which Scotland had been divided, and which
occurred in the ninth century, was a curious
type of that stiU greater and more unlikely
union which took place nearly eight hundred
years afterwards, when a similar royal alliance
was to unite the two hostile nations of England
and Scotland into one people and under the rule
of one king.

It is by this peaceful interman-iage between
the Scottish and Pictish crowns, and the suc-
cession which it originated, that we can satis-
factorily account not only for the union of the
Scots and Picts into one kingdom, but even
their ultimate fusion into a single people. For
this last result also, notwithstanding former
wars and rivalries, their common origin as Celts,
and the similarity of their language, character,
and ancient traditions, were an effectual pre-
parative. But a change so gentle and unosten-
tatious as this lias found little favour either with
the ancient chronicler or the modern antiquary,
being too uneventful for the romantic spii-it of
the former, and too simple and straightforward
for the cunning theories of the latter. The sup-
position of a war of conquest has therefore been
assumed in its stead, in which either the Picts
vanqiiished the Scots or the Scots annihilated
the Picts. But where are the ti-aces of such a
thorough and terrible conquest? Upon what
field was it fought, and by what hero was it
achieved ? In consequence of the Scots having
impressed their name upon the country at large,
as well as its population, it is generally con-
cluded that they, and not their rivals, were the
successful competitora. And what then became
of the unfortunate Picts ? They were swallowed
up, extinguished, annihilated. They are thus
got rid of because they stand in the way, and a
single drop of ink suffices for the feat. In this
arbitrary fashion our old histories have dis-
missed them, after having crumbled them by a
series of defeats commencing witli the codfish
vision of Kenneth, and ending with the last
application of his national extinguisher; and
when better evidence is sought for such a whole-

sale destruction, we are presented with the
Chronicle of the Pictish Kings, written, as is sup-
posed, about the eleventh century,' and the lie-
gister of St. Ayidrews, written in the twelfth.

Against such slender testimonies a superior
amount of proof has been triumphantly Iirought
forward in favour of the more merciful alterna-
tive. It arises from the utter silence respect-
ing such a conquest from those early wi-iters,
whether Welsh, Irish, or Saxon, who were more
unbiassed witnesses and had better means of
information. No allusion to the conquest of
Pictlaud is made by the English historian
Nennius, who wrote in the middle of the
ninth century and only a few years after the
death of Kenneth ; nor by Asser, the biographer
of Alfred, who wrote about the close of that
century; on the contraiy, they mention the
Picts as still living and possessed of tlieir
wonted nationality. In like maimer they are
announced in the Saxon Chronicle, and by Ethel-
wai'd and lugidphus in the tenth and eleveuth
centuries, who speak of the Picts as a people of
their own day. By Tighernac the Irish annal-
ist, by the Welsh annalists, and the Gaelic
Duan, Kenneth is simply spoken of as one of
the Pictish kings, but in no case ;is the con-
queror of Pictland nor yet the extei-minator of
the Picts. When with such testimonies we find
that people still living and unsubdued, and at
the same time ruled over by Kenneth Mac
AJpin the Scot, we see in the whole transference
nothing more than a case of hereditary succes-
sion and the union of the two crowns upon a
single head. A common interest and centuries
of close union were enough at last to blend the
two people into one and impress them with a
common name, while the name itself would be
naturally chosen from the country of the new
dynasty, aided, perhaps, by its greater amount
of popvdation or their superior intelligence and
enterprise. In this way, without having re-
course to a wholesale massacre, we can account
for the disappearance of the Picts. As in tlie
case of their aucestoi-s the Caletlonians, it was
only the name that disappeared ; the peojile still
remained.

I Chronieon Heyum Piclonnn, first published by Father
Innes in 1729.

66

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

CHAPTEE IV.

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

Druidism the religion of the ancient Caledonians — Attested by the Druidical remains in Scotland — Uncertainty
about the origin of the Druids — Caesar's account of them — Classes into which the Druids were divided —
Their costume — The ornament of the Dnud's egg — Ceremony of cutting the mistletoe — Druidical places
of worship — Human sacrifices — Nature and principles of the Druidical creed — Acquirements of the Druids
in science — Their teaching — Their influence — Entrance of Christianity into Scotland — Ninian — Palladius
— Kentigern — Columba's arrival in Scotland — Successful progress of his mission — The Culdees — Their
creed and mode of life — Nature of their ecclesiastical government — Death of Columba — Aidan called to
Northumberland — Establishment of the Culdees in England — Their suppression.

In our inquiries into the kind of religion that
prevailed among the ancient Caledonians and
their descendants, the Picts, before the entrance
of Christianity among them, we are justified in
concluding that it was the same Druidical sys-
tem which prevailed among the Britons of the
southern division of the island. This is attested
by the remains of Druid architecture which are
still plentiful in Scotland.^ They do not, indeed,
rival in vastness and architectural skill the
imposing temples of Avebury and Stonehenge;
but this cii'cumstauce is nothing more than
might be expected from the poverty of the
north, which presented fewer attractions to
an ambitious priesthood than the fertility and
superior importance of the south. StUl the
Druidical structures which are to be found over
the whole extent of Scotland, and the Di-uidical
observances which the introduction of Chris-
tianity failed to obliterate, seem to attest that
the Druidical rule was as firmly established in
the north as in the south, and maintained by the
same superior science, abUity, and intelligence.

Few questions in early history have been
more perplexing than the origin of this remark-
able order. From the manifest intellectual
superiority of the Druids and their attainments
in science, by which they were equally distin-
guished beyond, and separated from, the rude
tribes among whom they dwelt, it can scai-cely be
thought that they had originally been Britons
or even Gauls. They may, indeed, have been
settled in Gaul long before they were known in
our island, and have formed an essential part
of the GauUsh emigi-ations by which Britain
was originally peopled; but the sciences in
which they excelled as well as the creed they
promulgated all seem to attest that they origi-
nally came from the East — the fountain-head of
science as well as religious belief. In this case
India has been supposed to have been the

' A different view of the origin and purpose of these so-
called Druidical structures is taken by some writers. See
Introductory chapter.

native home of the Di-uids, and that they were
a branch of that Br.ahminical order which has
existed from the earliest peiiods of Indian his-
tory or tradition. But in opposition to this
theory we find that the Druids were not an
exclusive caste, neither did they reserve the
priestly office wholly to themselves, which they
would have done if they had been Brahmins.
May they not rather have been Phoenicians —
that homeless disinherited people who, by their
superior intelligence and enterpi-ise, were en-
abled to make every land their country, and
assume the leaderehip wherever they settled?
This idea their sun and fire worship, their
sanguinai-y rites, and their favourite haunts of
consecrated gi'oves, would appear to sanction.
But as to what people they originally were and
whence they came antiquity is silent ; and thus
the Druids are stUl aggrandised with that mys-
tery by which they awed our earliest ancestry
among the deep shades of the Caledonian Forest,
or in theu- Perthshire chief seat and capital in
the recesses that bordered upon the range of the
Grampians. Even of the doctrines they taught
we stiU know little, and that imperfectly, not-
withstanding the numerous notices which have
been given of the Druids by some of the most
eminent writera of antiquity.- But more than
all, their very name is a mystery which as yet
no philological learning has been able to solve.^
Of all the ancient writere who have given an
account of the Druids none is so fuU and dis-
tinct, so reasonable and worthy of belief, as
Julius Caesar, who, not only on account of his

- Of these writers we may mention the names of Cicero,
Dioilorus Siculus, Strabo, Mela, Suetonius, and Ammianus
SLarcellinus.

3 Thus some have derived the name of Druid from the
Hebrew word derussim or drussim, signifying contempla-
tive men ; and others from Greek S^w? , an oak. the favour-
ite tree of the Druids. Others, seeking a Celtic or British
root, have divided upon the following words, each of which
has its partisans : — Derwyddon, the lord of the oak ;
dntthin, a lord; dnt£, a magician; dm or deni; an oak;
trowis, a teacher of truth. All this only indicates a diffi-
culty that will never find a solution.

THE DRUIDS.

57

clear dispassionate judgment and observant
habits, but his long residence in Gaul, had the
best opportunities of becoming acquainted with
this singular priesthood. For these reasons we
quote his description of the Druids, notwith-
standing its length, as being the best and most
ample accoinit which we can anywhere obtain
of the ancient hierarchy of Scotland : —

"They preside over religion, take charge of
public and private sacrifices, and interpret reli-
gious mysteries. To them a great number of
young men resort for the purpose of training,
and by these they are held in gi-eat honour.
For they decide in almost all controversies, both
public and private; and if any crime has been
committed or any murder perpetrated, or if
there is a dLs]5ute about birthright or boundaries,
they decide the same — they settle rewards and
punishments; and if any individual, whether
private or public, refuses to abide by their de-
cree, they interdict him from the sacrifices. No
punishment among them is more severe than
this. Those on whom this interdict is laid are
accounted among the unholy and accursed; all
foreake them, all shun their approach and con-
versation lest they should be infected by theii-
touch ; nor are the claims of right accorded to
them nor any honours conferred on them. Over
all these Druids one presides who holds among
them the highest authority. On his death, if
any one of their number excels the rest in
merit, he succeeds him ; but if there ai-e several
who are equal, the successor is chosen by the
votes of the Druids, and sometimes the contest
is decided by an appeal to arms. At a certain
period of the year they hold a meeting at a
consecrated spot in the country of the Carnutes
[supposed to be the place now called Dreux in
the Orleannais], which is considered to be in the
centre of all Gaul. Hither from all quartere
rejiair those who have cases for litigation, and
submit themselves to their decision and sen-
tence. It is supposed that the system of Druid-
ism was formed in Britain and from thence
carried over into Gaul, and now those who wish
to be more completely versed in it generally go
thither [to Britain] for the purpose.

" The Druids are not accustomed to engage in
war, neither do they pay taxes like the rest of
the community; they have exemption from mili-
tary service and all public burdens. Induced
by these advantages, many come of their own
accord to be trained by them, and otliere are
sent by their parents and relations. There they
are said to learn by heart a number of vei-sea,
so that some remain twenty years under this
tuition. Nor do the Druids think it pro])er to
commit their instnictious to writing, altiiough
in almost all other mattei-s, in their accounts

both of the public and individuals, the Greek
charactei-s are used. They seem to me to have
adopted this com-se for two reasons: they do not
wish that the knowledge of their system should
be diffused among the common people; nor yet,
that their jiupils, tnistiug to wiitten characters,
should abate their diligence in cultivating the
memory, because, in most cases, it happens, by
trusting to the secuinty of wiitten character,
that peojjle become careless both in acquiring
knowledge and in retaining it. The chief ob-
ject of the Druids is to impress the conviction
that souls do not perish, but after death pass
from one set of bodies to another; and they
think that by this belief more than any other
men can be roused to courage, and to cast away
the fear of dying. They also discuss many
points concerning the heavenly bodies and their
motion, the extent of the univeree and the earth,
the nature of things, the influence and power of
the immortal gods, and teach these to their
young pupils.

" The whole nation of the Gauls is much ad-
dicted to religious observances; and for that
reason those who are afflicted with the more
serious diseases, and those who are involved in
the dangei-s of warfare, either sacrifice men as
^^ctims or vow that they will sacrifice them;
and in these immolations they use the services
of the Druids; for they consider that the im-
mortal gods cannot be propitiated unless the
life of one man be ofi'ered up for that of luiother:
they also have sacrifices of tlie same kind ap-
pointed for the state at lai-ge. Some have
images of immense size, the limbs of which they
construct of wicker-work, and till with living
men, and setting them on fire, the men are de-
stroyed by the flames. They believe that the
torture of those who have been apprehended
in the commission of theft, or robbery, or any
atrocious crime, is more grateful to the immortal
gods; but when theie is a deficiency of such kind
of criminals they inflict this torture even upon
the innocent.

" The god whom they chiefly worship is Mer-
cury: of him they have many images, and they
consider him the inventor of all arts, their guide
in all their journeys, and the divinity who has the
greatest influence in the pui-suit of wealth and
transactions of merchandise. Next to him they
worship Apollo, and Mai-s, and Jove, and Min-
erva; and of these gods they hold the .same belief
that is entertained by other nations — as that
Apollo wards off diseases, that Minerva imparts
the rudiments of manufactures and manual arts,
that Jupiter holds the nile of the celestial beings,
and that Mai-s ])rcsides over war. To M.irs,
when they have re.<olved to engage in a battle,
they usually devote whatever spoil they may

58

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

take in the war. After the couflict they sacrifice
all the live animals they have takeu; the rest of
the spoil they collect into one place. In many
states heaps of these things may he seen piled
up in consecrated localities, nor does it often
happen, that any one is so negligent about re-
ligious sanctions as to conceal at home any pai-t
of the spoil, or to take it away when deposited :
against this crime a very heavy pimishment with
torture is denounced.

" The Gauls declare that they are all de-
scended from Father Dis [Pluto], and this they
say has been handed down to them by the
Druids. For this reason they distinguish every
space of time, not by the number of days but
of nights; and they so regulate their birthdays,
and the commencement of months and years,
that the day shall come after the night."

Such is Cwsar's account of the Druids ; and
although his statements are confined to the
order as it existed in Gaul, yet from the pre-
eminence which was assigned to Britain, as the
great fountain-head of their religion, and the
chief school in which it was taught, we are war-
ranted in concluding that his description can
equally apply to the Druids of oiu- own island.
It is also so comprehensive that succeeding
writers have added little to its amount. But
even its clearness gives rise to a historical per-
plexity. Seeing that the Druids were so learned,
so superior in science and philosophy, and so
careful to indoctrinate their pupils in aU they
knew as to subject them to a twenty years'
course of instruction, how is it that the Britons
of the south were still so barbarous at Caesar's
arrival, and those of the north at the time of
Agricola's invasion 1 The only alternative left
to us is the conclusion, either that the Druids
were not so learned, or their disciples not such
savages as they have been represented. But the
fact of this Druidical superiority is too well
attested by the structures they have left behind
them, independently of the testimony of ancient
history, to be a subject of cavil or denial; and
we are compelled to suspect that both Britons
and Caledonians were not so utterly ignorant
and uncivilized as the Roman writers Iiave
represented them.

The Druidical order according to Strabo con-
sisted of three classes : these were the Bardi or
poets, a very essential class in a religion whose
precepts were inculcated in verses ; the Vates,
who were the priests and naturahsts ; and the
Druids proper, who, besides the study of nature,
inculcated the doctrines of religion and the laws
of morality. These last were the class of highest
account; and witli their pontifex maximus at
their head, they constituted a power in the state
which at anv time could outweigh that of either

king or chieftain. Such, indeed, wa.s their in-
fluence that, as Strabo informs us, they could
sometimes stop armies on the point of engaging,
and pei'suade them to a mutual accommodation.

The costume of the Druids was particularly
imposing. To distinguish themselves from the
laity, who wore their hair at full length and
shaved their chins, the Druids cropped the hair
of their heads, while their beards were allowed
to gi'ow in full luxuriance. They wore long
garments almost reaching to the ground ; and
when employed in their public religious cere-
monies they were distinguished by a white sur-
phce.

On these occasions also they wore a chaplet
of oak, which was likewise done by all the wor-
shipped. It appeai-s from the relics found in
their places of sepultui-e that they also wore
gold chains round then- necks and bracelets
upon their arms and wrists. But the chief
ornament, and that to which they attached a
high religious importance, was the Druid's egg,
of which so many wonderful traditions have
been recorded. This egg, the people were taught
to believe, had been formed by a great number
of serpents interwoven and twined together;
and as soon as formed, was raised aloft into the
air by the hissing of these serpents, when it had
to be caught in a clean white cloth before it fell
to the ground. He who caught it was obliged
instantly to mount a swift horse, and ride oflf at
fuU speed, to escape the angry serpents that
could only be stopped in their pui-suit by a
river.i To ascertain that the egg had been thus
secured so as to warrant its efficacy, it was then
encased in gold, and if it was genuine it would
swim against the stream. Pliny, who had seen
this egg, describes it as being about the bigness
of a moderate apple, having a cartilaginous shell
fidl of Httle cavities. This amulet, on having
passed its ordeal, was worn round the Druid's
neck as his chief distinctive badge and ornament,
and the virtues attributed to it were commensu-

1 The whole process is thus poetically described in
Mason's Caractaats : —

" Tell me yet,
From the grot of charms and spells.
Where our matron sister dwells,
Brenuus, has thy holy hand
S.of ely brought the Druid wand ;
And the potent adder-stone.
Gendered 'fore the autumnal moon.
When in undulating twine,
The foaming snakes proUfic join ;
When they hiss, and when they bear
Their wondrous egg aloof in air ;
Thence, before to earth it fall.
The Druid in his hallow'd pall

Receives the prize.

And instant flies,
FoUow'd by the envenom'd brood.
Till he cross the crystal flood?"

THE DRUIDS.

59

rate with its wonderful origin : among other be-
nefits it maJu hiiii wlio wore it superior to his
adversaries in all disputes and controversies,
and attracted to him the favour of the rich and
influential. If to these particular we add a
wand, which he usually carried, and to which
perhaps a due amount of wonder-working power
was attributed, we have a Druid in fuU costume,
whether he stood upon the high altar stone sur-
rounded by the silent multitude, or glided along
with phantom-like step among the distant trees
of the forest, while the people reverently avoided
his path or knelt and worehipped as he passed by.

But a still more important ceremonial, in
which not only tlie Druids but the people at
large were pei'sonally interested, was the cutting
of the mistletoe from their sacred tree the oak.
To this parasitical plant such extraordinary vir-
tues were attributed that it was believed to be
an especial gift of heaven ; and as it was so scarce
that it could not easily be found, while the want
of it would have foreboded great national cala-
mity, the search for it was a matter of vital im-
portance and anxiety. When the mistletoe was
found glowing on an oak-tree a procession of
priests and people, with the Arch-Druid at their
head, went in procession upon an appointed day
to cut it, which was done with gi'eat solemnity.
On a-ssembling round the tree two white bulls
were fastened to it by the homs ; then a Druid
clothed in white mounted the tree, and with a
long knife or pruning-hook of gold severed the
branch, which was received below in a white
mantle or sagum ; and after this the whole
company united in a festival of sacrifice, feast-
ing, and merry-making. This festival, we are
told, was kept as near the 10th of March, which
was their New-year's Day, as the age of the
moon permitted. Besides this imjiortant occa-
sion, other annual festivals were held by the
Dnuds, among which was May-day, in honour
of the sun (Bel or Bajil), from which practice
the Scots derived their Beltane ; Midsummer-
day, on which the favourable influences of
heaven were invoked for their fields ; and the
first of November, in which thanks were re-
turned for the fruits of the harvest, and the
yearly contributions of the people were paid to
the Druids.

From the roofless character of their temples
it hxs been supposed that the Druids, like the
ancient Germans of the days of Tacitus, thought
it unlawful to worship the gods under any other
covering than tliat of their owti bright heaven.
Their temples were therefore those circles of
huge stones, the remains of which still astonish
our scientific men on account of the skill and
labour that nui.st have been employed botli in
transporting and setting up such masses. But

besides these they had as places for worship their
sacred groves, of which the oak was the principal
tree; for according to Pliny they held it in such
esteem that they believed everything that grew
upon it came from heaven, and never performed
a religious rite without a garland of its leaves on
their heads. These groves were also watered by a
consecrated fountain, and sun-ounded by a ditch
or mound to prohibit the entrance of the pro-
fane. No woi-shipper also was perriiitted to
enter them unless he carried with him a chain,
in token of his complete dependence on the
deity. Such gloomy, mysterious, guarded re-
cesses were well fitted to awe the susceptible
imaginative Celtic spirit, and deepen its venera-
tion for the priesthood who presided over it.
In the centre of this religious twilight rose the
massive Druidical temple for which such an
approach was so weU fitted. It would have
been well, indeed, if no worse rites than mistle-
toe and midsummer festivals had animated
these cheerless recesses ; but what shall we say
of the human sacrifices by which they were
lighted with such fearful conflagrations, and
fiUed with dj-ing groans ?i And yet the fate of
these victims was scarcely to be deplored by
those unhappy excommunicated ones upon
whom the terrible Druidical ban had been laid
— the men who could not even apjiroach the
outside of these jealous groves without danger
— who were taught to believe that heaven was
in the same manner closed against them, while
earth had no longer a welcome or a place for
them. Perhaps not even the papal excom-
munication itself, when it was most dreaded
and obeyed, could transcend in its fearful con-
sequences the anathema of the Druids upon the
forlorn wretch, who had thenceforth neither
home, nor country, nor kindred — whose pre-
sence was an infliction and whose touch was
pollution- — whom all might insult without re-
taliation, and any one slay with impunitj-. With
regard to human sacrifice, it could scaicely fail
to be of frequent occun-ence, not only from the
fierce revengeful spirit of the Celtic character,
but its superstitious craving for the knowledge
of future events, both of which the institution

' In the third bonk of Liican's Pharsalia a Driii.liis
grove is tlius desuribed ;—

" Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ah ajvo," Ac.

-Pharsat. lib. iii. T. 899.
" Not far away, (or ages past liad stood
An old unviolated sacred wood.
Whose gloomy boughs thick iiitemoven made
A chilly cheerless everlasting shade :
There, nor the rustic goils. nor satyrs sport.
Nor fawns, ami sylvnns with the nymphs resort;
Hut barbarous priests some dreailful power adore.
And lustrato every tree with human gore."

— Rowc's Luoan.

60

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

was well fitted to gratify; and accordinglj' we
find that, in addition to those wholesale sacri-
fices of human victims which Ciesar has men-
tioned, the Druids, according to Diodorus
Siculus, practised divination by the same rite.
When they wished to know the result of any
important pending event they slew their victim
by the stroke of a sword across the diaphi-agm,
and took the omen from the manner of his fall-
ing, the quivering of his members, and the
mode in which the blood gushed out. It is
probable that investigations of this kind were
by no means unfrequent among such a people as
the Caledonians, and that they were continued
long after the imperial edicts had checked them
in South Britain and the capture of Anglesey
had effected theu- downfall.

When we inquire into the nature and prin-
ciples of the creed over which this singular
priesthood presided, we ai'e here compelled to
confess our ignorance. They did not intrust
their doctrines to -m-itiug; they did not sym-
bolize them in images or indicate them in the
cai-ved work of their temples, like the otlier
nations of antiquity; and thus when the Druids
themselves became extinct, no record remained
of the principles of that creed which had once
been so widely diffused and so powerful in its
agency. Here, also, the Koman writers to whom
we turn for instniction are so vague, and withal
so contradictory, that we ai'e equally at a loss to
ascerfeiin what the Druids believed and whom
they worshipped. We are told that they adored
the Supreme Being under the title of Esus or
Hesus, and hence it has been sujiposed that
their creed was a simple theism ; but ou the
other hand we leain from Caesar and other
writere that they worshipped a plurality of
gods, whose names and attributes they have
also specified. It is easy to solve this apparent
contradiction by supposing that, like the priests
and even the sages of antiquity, the Druids had
two sets of doctrines — the one exoteric and
suited to the popular taste, and the other esoteric
or abstract and secret, which they reserved for
the initiated. In this way they may have in-
culcated the refined principles of theism to their
favoured pupils amidst the retirement of their
groves, and preached polytheism to the com-
munity at large. We know, however, the
general fate of such a compromise, and how
quickly the former system is swallowed up and
lost in the latter; so that even the Druids
themselves may at last have abandoned the
exclusive worship of Hesus for that of gods,
oaks, and mistletoes. Our perplexity is deejiened
at this part of the inquiry by the names which
these Roman wi'itei-s give to the gods of the
popular Druidical woi-ship ; and at the head of

them Csesar places the Greek god Mercury,
after whom came Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and
Minerva. But how, it might be asked, did the
Britons learn such names, or when did the
Di-uids become converts to the Greek myth-
ology? We know, however, liow careless the
Romans were about the nomenclature of every
mythology, and how readily they gave the
names of their own deities to the analogous
gods of other countries; with them a god of
battles would be no other than M;u-s, and of
the sun no other than Apollo. In this way the
deities of the Britons — Hesus, Teutates, Taranis,
and Bel or Bal — received Greek names accord-
ing to their attributes, iiTespective of the
Druidical nomenclature.

While we are informed of the contemplative
character of the Druids and theii' dUigence in
the study of physical sciences, the particular
kind as well as the extent of their acquirements
has also given rise to much controvei-sy and
conjecture. Of their skill in mechanics and
geometry there can be no question, as long as
Stoueheuge and Avebm-y remain. In astronomy
also, to which they were gi-eatly addicted, they
must have made considerable proficiency accord-
ing to the standard of the times, when they
were able not only to mark the duration of the
diflereut seasons, but to fix with some degi-ee of
exactness the return of the days of their annual
religious festivals, which were attended by per-
sons not only fi'om remote districts but even
foreign countries, who were to assemble at one
and the same day uj5on a particular spot. But
whether they were as well acquainted with the
motions of the stare and planets as those of the
sun and moon — although these also, we are
told, were the objects of their most cai-eful ob-
servation— may reasonably be doubted. A
strange attempt has been made indeed to prove
that the Druids knew and used the powei-s of
the telescope; but for this there is no better
authority than a vague sentence of Diodorus
Siculus, in which he teUs us of the Hj-perborean
island : " They say, moreover, that the moon is
seen from that island as if she were but at a short
distance from the earth, and having hills and
mountains like om-s on the surface." To the ai-ts
of healing, from which a priesthood often derive
their chief influence among a rude people, the
Druids were not inattentive; and while they
studied the natural qualities of herbs and
simples in the cure of diseases, they were care-
ful to identify theii' efficacy with their own
divine authority and wonder-working power.
We learn from Plinj' that theii- chief specific
was the mistletoe, which they believed to be a
cure for all diseases, and therefore called it by
a name equivalent in their language to "All-

THE DRUIDS.

61

heal." It was especially efficient in the relief
of epilepsy or falling sickness — a disease from
which even the hardiest of savage tribes aie by
no means exempted. He also specifies theii' use
of a kind of plant called selago, which was a
sovereign remedy for all diseases of the eyes ;
and mentions also other herbs and plants
which were of similar appliaition and use.
It was not wonderful, indeed, that the Druids,
living so much in the woods, should have had
their attention turned to the medicinal pro-
perties of such objects and have become skilful
herbalists. But as the faith of their patients
as well as the intrinsic power of their specific
were to be enlisted in the process of cm-ing,
the life-giving balm had to be sought in a pro-
pitious manner and season, and applied with
due religious ceremonial. From Pliny's account
we also learn that the Druids were skUful phar-
macists as well as exceDent herb-doctors. This
was shown in their potions and decoctions, their
fumigations and powders, their salves and oint-
ments, in which forms they often administered
the simples whose various qualities in the cure
of diseases and restoration of health they must
have vei-y carefully studied.

But as the chief influence of the Druids was
founded upon their schools, where the children
of kings and nobles were their pupils, and
through whom they could direct the whole com-
munity at pleasure, it was necessary to fit the
young aristocracy for their purpose not only by
superior knowledge, but by full power to embody
and impress it. Hence, in addition to the
twenty thousand verses which the young stu-
dents were required to commit to memory, and
which, no doubt, composed a complete ency-
clojiedia of Druidical knowledge, the study of
eloquence occupied a chief portion of their time
and attention. It is by this great instrument
that the savage mind in general and the Celtic
in particular is most effectually moved and con-
trolled,and without the possession of this faculty
a chief or king would have been deprived of
more than half his influence. The future leaders
of the Britons were therefore trained to be
oratoi-s, and no battle could be fought without
what Tacitus calls the incitamenta belli — the
speeches with which they inflamed the courage,
increased the hopes, and dispelled the feara of
their countrymen, as they (lew from rank to
rank before the signal of onset was given. Nor
was the jjower of eloquence less needed among
the British chiefs to preside over a turbulent
council, and control the manifold changes and
aberrations of a popular debate. But even in
such an education as this, and so superior to
that of almost every barbarous, or even semi-
civilized state of society, we see that the Druids

stiU retained the means of ascendency in their
own hands, and posse.ssed the power of ruling
and directing their pupils to the last. Tliis is
evident from the fact, that although they jjos-
sessed the knowledge of writing and used the
Greek character, they carefully confined it to
themselves. Had they but taught their pupils
to read and write, the whole laborious task of
education would have been both simplified and
abbreviated; but it did not suit them that these
pupils in after-life should be able to consult
their note-books when judgment or memory
was at fault, instead of a]i]ilyiug to their pre-
ceptors, whose award would be final aud de-
cisive.

In short, we recognize in the whole history of
the Druids a very able and also a very am-
bitious priesthood. They kept the key of know-
ledge whoUy in then- own hands, and thus re-
tained the obedience of the people to the last.
And not content with their priestly influence
as the hierarchs of a despotic creed, they were
also the legislators, senator, judges, sfci lists,
physicians, and schoolm;isters of the commu-
nity: they thus barred up every possible outlet,
whether religious, civil, or politiad, by which
the mind could escape, so that not a thought
could go forth without finding a Druid in the
way. It was a tremendous power whether for
good or evil ; but unfortunately an imperfect
knowledge of the society over which it was
exercised prevents us from ascertaining the
amount of either, and judging whetlier the good
or the evil jiredominated. At all events it was
well fitted to raise a community from the savage
state to a certain degi-eeof civilization; or, find-
ing it in this condition, to prevent its relapse
into utter barbai-ism. It would idso be a check
at any time upon the despotism of kings whose
regal power had no specified limits, or the wild
feuds of the people when royal authority was
unable to control them. Even at the woret, too,
this Druidical power, so unlimited aud iirespon-
sible in other respects, must have conceded
largely to the popular weal, and what was gene-
rally felt to be just and right, otlierwise it could
not have long maintained its own standing and
ascendency. We know at any rate that in
South Brit:iin it was the greatest obstacle to
Roman ambition, so that the country could
not be fully subdued until Druidism itself was
bioken and destroyed at Anglesey. We also
know that when the Dniids were proscribed
and massacred, or compelled to flee to Ireland,
Caledonia,or the neiglibouring isles, the theology
they had planted w.is still inwoven among the
national liabits of the ])eople, and could not be
eradic-ited from their creed even long after
Cliristiauity had been planted in its room, ao

62

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

that Canute in the eleventh century was obliged
to resume the war against Druidism by enact-
ing a strict law prohibiting all his subjects "from
worshipping the gods of the Gentiles; that is to
say, the suu, moon, fires, rivers, fountains, hills,
or trees, and woods of any kind."

From the existence of the Druidical remains
in Scotland we are warranted, notwithstanding
the absence of any historical testimony, to adopt
this account of the Druidism of Gaul and South
Britain as applicable to the Caledonians and
Picts. Its practices may have been affected by
the greater barbarism and poverty of the north;
but stLU its general principles must have been
the same that were taught to the Briton and the
Gaul. Even when Druidism was suppiessed in
the south by the edicts of the Roman emperors
and the early introduction of Chi-istianity, we
can also conclude that it still continued to
flourish with undiminished vigour in Scotland,
where Eoman laws had no access, and into
which no Christian missionary had as yet en-
tered. At what period this last happy event
occurred it is difficult to determine. Fordun
and Boece, who, like other national historians,
are eager to secure this advantage for their
countiy as near the fountain-head of the apos-
tolic age as may be consistent with probability,
assert that it occurred a.d. 203. According to
then- account Donald, whom they represent as
king of the whole country, at that period ap-
plied to Pope Victor for Roman missionaries to
convert and civOize his heathen subjects ; upon
which the latter sent a band of Christian minis-
ters, by whose pious labours Scotland was con-
verted to the Christian faith. But this account
of the early entrance of rehgious truth has been
abandoned for one that makes it to have oc-
curred two centuries later. This was occasioned
by the ministry of Ninian, a Briton, but edu-
cated as a prie.st at Rome, who came to Valentia,
the country of the southern Picts, as Bede calls
them, at the end of the fourth century (a.d. 397),
and founded the monastery and chm-ch of Whit-
hern (or Whithorn), caUed otherwise Candida
Casa. He died there a.d. 432, after a course of
successful apostolic labour, in which he is sup-
posed to have had the Romanized province of
Valentia for his diocese, and at a later period
he was enrolled in the hagiology of North Britain.

Next to Ninian in the list of the early Chi-is-
tian instructors of Scotland was Palladius.
England, having been overrun about the middle
of the fifth century with the Pelagian heresy,
Celestine at that time Bishop of Rome, sent
Palladius, who was distinguished by his great
learning as well as piety, to confute and sup-
press it. This important mission he discharged
so effectually that the Britons were recalled

from tlieir eri'ors ; and on hearing of his fame
Eugenius II., son of that Fergus II. who is said
to have restored the Scottish nation to the island,
entreated Palladius to come and settle among
his subjects, who had also been infected with
the prevailing Pelagianism. The successful mis-
sionary complied with the invitation, in which
he w;is sanctioned by Celestine, who, according
to Bede, " sent him to the Scots who believed
in Christ as their first bishop." It would appear
from this cu-cumstance that Christianity had
previously prevailed among the Scoto-Irish, and
that at their emigration into Scotland they had
brought it with them as an essential part of
then' national polity. It has been supposed,
however, and with some show of probabUitj^,
that Ireland, at that time called the land of the
Scots, rather than the northern portion of our
island, was the real diocese assigned to Palladius.

The little kingdom of Cumbria, which is
usually considered a part of Pictavia, was the
chief scene of the labours of Kentigern, better
known in the west of Scotland by the name of
St. Mungo, which signifies the "gentle" or the
"courteous," bestowed upon him by the affec-
tion of his people. His laboui-s, which extended
over the latter part of the sixth century, were
closed by his death, a.d. 601 ; and during this
time he is alleged to have converted many of
the Cumbrians to Christianity, and founded the
diocese of Glasgow, the memorable cathedral of
which, on being buUt in after ages, was dedi-
cated to his memory.

In this way the southern Picts received the
light of religious truth chiefly from Ireland,
which during these dark ages became renowned
as an island of saints and missionaries. The
histories of Kentigern and Ninian, with the
labours they underwent, the dangers they en-
countered, and the miracles they wrought, have
been fully written and distinctly detailed ; but
these we may well pass over as unsuitable to
impartial history. AU that can be accurately
ascertained is the fact of the existence of the
early I'eformers and the eflicieney of their
labours among a people whose authentic records
have descended to our own day only in the form
of a few fragments. From this obscurity, how-
ever, we may except Columba, the illustrious
apostle of the northern Picts, who may be said
not only to have taught Christianity to Scotland
at large, but to have impi-essed upon its polity
that peculiar form which was to outlast whole
ages of Roman Catholic ascendency, and finally
to reappear and triumph when the season of re-
ligious reformation had arrived.

Columba was a native of Ireland and a de-
scendant of the kings of Ulster : by this origin,
as has been formerly mentioned, he was closely

INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY.

63

connected with the house of Fergus, and half
cousin to Conal, king of the Dalriad Scots of
Cantire. He was bom about the year 521.
Many miraculous incidents are rehi.ted of his
bu-th and early life by his biographei-s Adamnan
and Cummin ; but they are too much tinctured
with the superstition of the seventh century to
merit repetition. He is supposed not only to
have founded several monasteries in Ireland,
but also to have travelled in foreign countries
before he visited Scotland. To this important
mission he addressed himself at the mature age
of forty-two, being probably influenced in his
choice by the example of one of his preceptors,
St. Ciaran, who had become a missionary to the
Scots of Cantire. Columba, however, directed
his attention in the first instance not to his
countrymen of Scotland, but the northern Picts,
among wliom Druidism was still the prevalent
religion. Accordingly he embarked, a.d. 563,
accompanied by twelve faithful followei-s in a
light boat made of wicker work covered with
skin, and furnished with a single sail, and
readied in safety the island of Hy, or more
classically termed afterwards lona, a convenient
spot for his purpose, as it not only preserved his
communication with Ireland, but was situated
on the borders of the Pictish and Scottish king-
doms.

Having made his perilous voyage in safety,
it was on land that the greatest dangers of
Columba were to commence, and these were as
many and alarming as those which a modern
missionary might be expected to encounter
among tlie most remote tribes of India or Africa.
The king shut his doore against his entrance;
the common people repeatedly made attempts
on his life; the wild beasts with which the
country abounded endangered his journeys,
while the Druids, who must aheady have taken
tlie alarm at the progiess of Christianity, exerted
all tiieir influence to defeat or injure him. But
the intrepid self-denying preacher persevered
in his purpose, and was finally victorious. For
this, indeed, he was eminently fitted; for, besides
his illustrious descent, we are told that he had
a cheerful pleasant countenance and winning
address, with a voice so powerful tliat when
rai.sed it was like peals of tliunder, and could
be heard in its distinct articulations at the dis-
tance of a mile, when he was employed in sing-
ing psalms. To these natural advantages he also
added such skill in healing diseases, that his
cures were often tliought to be miraculous. All
these endowments soon produced their natural
effect: tlie kings of Pictland and Scotland be-
came his warmest friends and suiiporters; the
people followed tlie example of their sovereigns;
and at length Columba w;is recognized both by

Scot and Pict as a sacred teacher, whose in-
structions were to be cordially received and
followed.^ His public influence, indeed, was
well attested not only by the numerous con-
vei-sions with which his preaching was accom-
panied, but the readiness with which the kings
and chiefs repaired to him for counsel, and the
efficacy of his mediations in composing the
sanguinai-y feuds of the little kingdoms into
which the country was parcelled. The brotherly
intercourse which he maintained with his dLs-
tinguished contemporaries is also indicated by
the touching account of a visit which he paid to
St. Kentigern, when he left lona for that pur-
pose. They met in procession near the monas-
tery of the latter at Glasgow, each accompanied
by monks, who alternately sang verses of psalms
and hallelujahs; and at their parting, after much
religious intercouree and amicable discussion, the
two missionaries exchanged staves in token of
their mutual afi'ection and esteem.

The island of lona, at which Columba first
landed, was bestowed upon him as the site on
which to erect a monastery ; but whether the
investiture was made by Conal king of Scots,
or Bridei king of the Picts, has been a matter
of question. This, indeed, was scarcely worthy
of being mooted about a little barren island,
two miles in length and one in breadth, and
which, perhaps, at the time could support no
inhabitants. On obtaining possession Columba
pi-oceeded to found his monastery; but this, in
the fii'st instance, must have been nothing better
than a few huts or tabernacles, of which the
walls were chiefly constructed of wattles, for the
shelter of himself and his twelve companions,
and the performance of their devotions. "They
neither sought nor loved anything of this world,"
says Bede of tliem ; and their whole lives and
proceedings confirmed the truth of his declara-
tion. Two yeai-s were spent in the erection of
these humble fabrics, which they built with
their own hands. Having thus found a home
for them, Columba proceeded to foi-m them into
a regular ecclesiastical body, -which, under the
name of Culdees, was soon to oversjiread the
whole country, and become the representative
of the Cliristian cliurch in Scotland.

This institution partook of the monastic cha-
racter, but without the stern restriction of
celibacy; and in drawing up its rules Columba
could be at no loss, as he liad founded many
such monasteries in Ireland before he Viecamc
the apostle of Scotland. A scholar himself ac-

> The peace-loring spirit of Coliimlia wm once ciprosscd
ill tlie fdllowing characteristic manner:— A man hnil the
holdiiess to rciiucst him to Mess his dagger. The saint
complicil in the following words: "May God grant that it
may never shed a drop of the Wood of cither man or beut I"

64

HISTORY OF' SCOTLAND.

cording to the learning of the age, he was
anxious that his monasteries should be schools
of industrial education as well as religious in-
struction; and as a long education was necessary
for his monks before they could be fitted for
such an office as that of national teachers, he
was careful to select the young, that there
might be the promise of time, and vigour, aud
docility for the work of training. They must
learn to read and write, and employ themselves
in studying and transcribing the Scriptures —
not indeed in the original Greek and Hebrew,
which languages were beyond the scholarship
of the times, but in the Latin translation, which
was the language of religion over the whole of
Christendom. In this way every Culdee monas-
tery became a school, of which the parent univer-
sity was at loua. But besides being instructors
as well as conservators of the learning of the
age, the Culdees were also the teachers of every
handicraft occupation. This is attested in the
works of Cummin and Adamnan, where we find
these monks employed in building, carpentry,
husbandry, and horticulture. In this way
Columba had well-stored granaries out of which
he supplied his neighbours with grain to sow
their fields, and a Saxon baker in his monastery,
who perhaps was the only one in the country.
Orchards also ap|)ear to have been planted round
the earliest monasteries, and apple-trees are men-
tioned among their other possessions. If to these
we add the clerical laboura of the Culdee in visit-
ing, preaching, and administering the rites of
rehgion throughout his district, we have a very
different picture of monastic labour, intelligence,
aud usefidness, compared with that which the
life of a monk presented in other countries
even so early as the beginning of the eighth
century.

The purity and simplicity of Christian doc-
trine, as professed and taught by the Culdees,
appears to have been in full h.armony with their
character, habits, and mode of life. Tlieir Chris-
tianity had little connection with that of Rome;
and when Roman innovations in doctrine and
ceremonial began to increase, these found in the
Culdees their most determined opponents. In-
stead of the Western church, they seem to have
rather followed the Eastern, as established by St.
John and his disciples; and thus they were ob-
noxious to those who had begun to receive, a.s an
essential jjart of Christianity, the untrustworthy
traditions of Rome. This is indicated by the
Venerable Bade, where, while he speaks of them
as schismatists because they followed uncertain
rules in the observation of the gi'eat festival
(Easter), he also declares that " they only prac-
tised sucli works of charity and piety as they
could learn from the prophetical, evangelical.

and apostolic writings." This strict adherence
indeed to the written word, and utter abnega-
tion of all other authority in religion, was the
head and front of their offending.

Few questions connected with these early
ages have excited more keen debate among
modern British writers than that of the kind
of ecclesiastical polity which was established
among these primitive scriptural Culdees. Had
they bishops? or did they at least invest their
abbots with episcopal autliority? or was their
abbot merely a primus inter pares, like the
moderator of a Presbyterian church court? For
more than two centuries has this debate con-
tinued between the churches of England and
Scotland, and been urged not only with all the
ardour of a national, but of a religious contro-
versy; it has been felt indeed both by Pres-
byterianism and Episcopacy that the distinct
testimony of so early a period, aud from such a
peojjle as the Culdees, was well worth contend-
ing for. Into so wide a field of controversy it
cannot be expected that history should enter;
leaving the arguments to theologians, it can
only state the leading facts or briefly announce
the result. So far, then, as investigation has
gone, it cannot be found that a bishop was
recognized among the Culdees, according to
the authoritative meaning of the term. Bede,
who is the chief authority on this point, ex-
pressly informs us that "the island [lona] is
wont to have always for its ruler a presbyter-
abbot, to whose authority the whole province,
and even the bishops themselves, after an un-
wonted manner, are bound to be subject, accord-
ing to the example of its first teacher, who was
not a bishop, but a presbyter and monk."' In
the seventh centiu-y also, when King Oswald
apjilied to lona for a bishop to instruct tlie
heathen people of Northumbria, the abbot aud
his brethren appointed first one aud afterwards
another of their number to the important oflice
of the bishopric. What else could this mean,
it has been triumphantly asked, than that pres-
byters themselves ordained bishops, and acted
in this case, as in all inferior matters of church
rule, upon the principle of Presbyterian parity ?
To get out of this difficulty it has been assumed
on the other side that a bishop was kept at
lona expressly for the purpose of such conse-
crations ; but this is merely an assumption, as
no name or trace of any such episcopal resident
can be discovered. As freely might an arch-
bishop himself have been assumed for the little
island of lona, with his whole staff of episcojial
subordiuates, down to the acolyth who held the
taper and the ostiary who kept the door.

1 BecUx Eistor. lib. iii. c. 4.

SPEEAD OF CHRISTIANITY.

65

The death of Columba occurred on the 9th of
June, 597, when he was in the seventy -seventh
year of his age. The account of that event
forms a mild and beautiful episode which falls
like a passing ray of sunshine upon that dark
and stormy age. The saint had been premo-
nished that the day of his departure had ar-
rived; but still, diligent to the last, he was intent
upon those duties on which the welfare of the
brotherhood depended. One of these was to
repair to the barn or storehouse of lona to take
account of the provisions laid up for the monas-
tery, and invoke a blessing ujjon them. As he
returned to the monastery he was obliged to
rest by the way; and while he sat, an old white
horse that used to carry the milk-vessels from
the fold to the building reclined its head upon
the good man's breast, and, as if sensible of his
approaching death, it uttered piteous groans,
and even began to shed teai-s. One of the monks
attempted to lead the animal away, when he was
checked by his master, who said, "Let him
alone, for he loves me. To thee God has given
reason; but, behold, that they might not be
despised, he has also planted affection in brutes,
and in this case also even something like a fore-
knowledge of my departure." Then turning to
the animal he said, " Now go away, my faithful,
affectionate friend, and may you be kindly cared
for by Him who made you!" On returning
to his closet he resumed the pen, which was
seldom out of his hand during his intervals of
leisure, and employed himself in transcribing
the psalter, until he came to that passage in the
thirty-fourth Psalm, "They that seek the Lord
shall not want any good thing." "Here," he
said, " I have come to the end of a page, where
it will be proper for me to stop ; for the verse
that follows, "Come, ye children, hearken unto
me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord," will
better suit my successor than me : I will there-
fore leave it to Baithen to transcribe it." He
went to the evening service, and at his return
delivered his parting charge to the brethren,
and lay down to die; but afterwai-ds, on hearing
the bell ringing for the midnight vigil, he hastily
dressed him.self and hurried to the cliurch, where
he was the first who airived. But it wa.s the
last effort of nature, the final gleam of the lamp
that had burned so brightly, for ou the arrival
of the monks they found Columba Ijing deail
before the altar in tlie attitude of prayer.

During the tliirty-four yeais of this eminent
reformer's life in Scotland his labom-s had ex-
tended not only over northern Pictland and tlie
territory of the Scots, but over the Western
Islands ; and although it would be difficult to
settle the number of churches and monas-
teries which he founded, yet the numerous

names of places in Scotland with which his
own or that of his follower is identified, show
how widely and with what populai- favour the
principles of the Culdees had been extended.
After his death Columba was considered not
only as the patron saint of Scotland, but of Ire-
land also, in which last coimtry he .jhared the
distinction with St. Patrick and St. Bridget;
and both countries were so eager for the pos-
session of his relics, that wliile the Pictish
Chronicle alleges his remains to have been trans-
ported by Kenneth Macalpin to a church which
he built for the purpose, the Irish writei-s declare
that they were canied to Down in Ireland, and
deposited in the same gi-ave with those of St.
Bridget and St. Patrick.'

In the meantime the monasteiy of lona or
Icolmkill continued to enjoy a prominence over
the similar institutions both of Scotland and
Ireland, which made it be regarded as their
metropolitan head; and its abbot as primate
enjoyed the privilege of exercising his jurisdic-
tion over all the other bishops.- So high also
was its reputation for sanctity that kings and
princes, both Pictish and Scottish, both Saxon
and Norwegian, coveted a last home in its
cemetery, as if tliei-e, above all other places, the
wicked would cease from troubling and the
weary be at rest. But living kings as well as
dead were fain to seek the shelter of lona, and
a case of this nature gave the opportunity of
extending its principles over a large portion of
England. Oswald, prince of Northumberland,
having been compelled in early youth to fly
fi-om the pursuit of Edwin, betook himself to
lona, where he was instnicted in the Cliristian
faith, and trained in the learning for which the
island had now become illustrious. The course
of revolution in 634 summoned Oswald from
his cell to ascend the throne of Northumberland.
Anxious for the conversion of his heathen sub-
jects, lie looked out for Christian teachers; but
in this case, instead of applying to the clergy of
the neighbouring kingdoms of the Heptarchy,
who followed the Latin rule of faith and doc-
trine, he addressed himself, as was natui-al, to
his old friends and instnictoi's, the monks of
lona. They gladly responded to his call by
sending to him Corman, the most learned and
accomplished of their brethren, whom they

' In confirmation of this last statement Giraldus Cam-
brensis quotes tlie following old leonine couplet :—
Hi tres in Duno, tuniulo tumulautur in uno,
Brigida, Patricius, at4|uo Columba plus.

* *' Pictonim et Scotorura Primas'*— "Omnium Hiltemien-
siuni Kpiscoporum lYiuias," are among the title? bestoweil
by Mveral ancient wTitera upon St. Columba. while the
authority implied by these titles was enjoyed by Ids suc-
ceuors until it <ras thought that abbota were unfit to confer
the epiflcopal office.

66

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

appointed bishops for the purpose; but Gorman
was speedily disgusted with the barbarism of
the Northumbrians, and abandoned his charge
in despair. On returning home he was describ-
ing the hopeless nature of such a mission to the
assembled monks, when he w;is checked by a
voice of Ckristian reproof : "Brother, you should
have remembered theapostolic iujimctiou to feed
them with milk; afterwards they would have
become fitted for stronger food." The speaker
was Aidan, one of their number, and judging
him well qualified for the task they sent him to
succeed the fastidious and disappointed Cormau.
Then- choice was a happy one ; but still an
almost insuperable difficulty remained: Aidan
was ignorant of the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and
was therefore unintelligible to the people. But
in a singular manner this obstacle was sur-
mounted, for Oswald accompanied him in his
missionaiy journeys, and while the monk
preached in the Celtic language, the king trans-
lated his sentences into Saxon. The good work
so earnestly prosecuted could scarcely fail to be
successful, and the result was the convereiou of
the kingdom of Northumberland to the Chi'is-
tian faith.

On his ai-rival in England Aidan selected for
the seat of his bishopric the bleak island of

Lindisfarne, being probably influenced in the
choice by its resemblance to the parent seat of
lona. This soon became a diocese of large ex-
tent, for it not only comprised Northumberland,
but extended over the greater part of Roxburgh
and Lothian. To this episcopate also the monas-
teries of Melrose, Coldingham, Tyningham, and
Abercorn are supposed to have owed their origin.
It would be difficult indeed to define how far
the kingdom of Northumberland extended into
the Lowlands of Scotland, and thus to ascertain
the bounds of this Ciildee bishopric of I/indis-
farne, as established by Oswald and presided over
by Aidan. The troubles that ensued after it had
maintained its supremacy for thii-ty yeai-s, the
controversies that were waged against it on the
questions of the proper period of observing
Easter and the right form of shaving the head
into what was deemed the orthodox clerical
tonsure, and the manner in which Culdee sim-
plicity was finally overthi-own in England under
the ascendency of Latin refinements and inno-
vations, belong more properly to English eccle-
siastical history. It is enough to state, that
eighty years after the mission of Aidan the
Northumbrians had fully recognized the author-
ity of the Roman Church by adopting its period
for the celebration of the Easter festival.

CHAPTER V.

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

Causes of our limited knowledge of the Caledonians — Form of government among the Caledonians — Their
military character — Theii- weapons — Then- war-chariots — Their costume — Their skin-painting — Their per-
sonal ornaments — Buildings of the Caledonians — Druidical temples — Burial-places and modes of burial —
Caledonian strongholds — Hill-forts — Houses of the Caledonians — Their domestic life — Their strange
marriage institutions — Food of the Caledonians — Handicraft occupations of the Caledonians — Their boat-
building— Our ignorance of the progress of Caledonian ciWlization.

While the accounts which the Roman his-
torians have left us of the ancient Britons in
the soutliern part of the island are so brief,
those which they have given of the inhabitants
of the north, or the Caledonians, are still more
scanty. A few sentences indeed, and these of a
very vague character, are all that they have
condescended to bestow upon the unconquei'ed
Caledonians. But for this omission some apology
may be found. The Romans were more intent
upon conquering a people than investigating
their previous history. Their conquests were
so numerous that an historical account of the
different countries they subdued would have
been a history of the world at large rather than

of two or three kingdoms. Hence the latest of
their victorious acquisitions — that of South
Britain — has been dismissed in so summai-y a
manner. They have devoted mei-ely a few pages
to the people whom they reduced the last of all
to the common standard of Roman provincialism.
It was not therefore to be expected that their
narrative would have afforded any particulai-
space to the Caledonians, whom they despised,
with whom their warfare had been confined to
a few hasty ini'oads, and who only remained
imconquered because Rome hereelf was on the
eve of being conquered in her turn. In such
poverty of intelligence our only remedy in at-
tempting to describe the primitive inhabitants

THE CALEDONIANS: SOCIAL STATE.

C7

of Scotland is to amplify these scanty notices
by analogies derived from the condition of the
Britons of the south, and liy refen-ing to the
relies of these early ages which have survived
to our own day.

The form of government which jjrevailed
among the Caledonians £is among the South
Britons attested their common Celtic origin.
It was the ancient patriarchal sj'stem of the
East rather than the elective form of the North,
and to this the Celts have pertinaciously clung
whatever might be the country to which they
migrated. The father of the family, invested
with unlimited discretionary power over his
own household, imparted this authority to his
eldest son when the family had swelled into a
tribe ; and as each tribe had thus its own dis-
tinctive ruler, a country of very limited dimen-
sions might have as many diB'erent independent
sovereigns as there were family names. In this
way we can understand how so many kings
were banded against Julius Cwsar at his inva-
sion of the south, and against Agricola at his
entrance into the northei^n part of the island.
To their disunion Tacitus chiefly attributes the
easy conquest of the south by the Romans. "A
confederation of two or more states," he says,
" to repel the common danger is seldom known:
they fight in parties, and the nation is subdued."
Such was the case in his own day ; but at an
earlier period he acknowledges it was different :
"the Britons," he says, " were formerly governed
by a race of kings." This no doubt referred to
their practice of assigning a certain pre-emi-
nence or leadership to the chief who had the
greatest number of followers or amount of war-
like reputation, and to whom their obedience
was chiefly ensured by the presence of some
danger that threatened all the other kings alike;
as in the case of Cassivellanus, who was their
leader against Ciesar's formidable legions. At
a later period also than that of Tacitus, when
the Britons were in a great measure abandoned
by their conqueroi-s and left to their own re-
sources, they naturally resumed this early form
of government by electing a chief of chiefs, who,
under the name of Pendragon, was usually re-
cognized as their paramount king, until a
stronger than he arose and displaced him. All
this we can also dimly trace in tlie form of
government that prevailed among the Cale-
donians. When Agricola invaded them,Tacitus
tells us that "among their many chiefs (ducc.i),
one called Galgacus excelled the rest in ancestry
and courage." He was not therefore king of
Caledonia, but merely a chief of sujjerior chai--
acter and influence, who probably on that ac-
count was elected Pendragon either at an earlier
period or when the invasion of their country

had been commenced. In this way, also, the
seven or eight states of England under the
Heptarchy were afterwards ruled by a Bret-
walda, who figures as King of England in our
histories, although he was but the real sovereign
of a seventh part of the kingdom. An office so
estabU-shed must have been of uncei-tain tenure,
and the mark of many candidates; and while in
some cases it may have been hereditary in a
single famUy, in others it may have depended
upon an election, or even a usurpation. This
perhaps will explain the divereity apparent in
the rule of succession among the Scots and Picts.
With the former, whatever might be the con-
tentions of rival branches, the sceptre was always
retained in the line of Fergus ; but among the
Picts, who seem to have had no such jiredomi-
nant family among their tribes, or no such here-
ditary claims of gratitude to bind them to a
single famDy, an absolutely fixed line is not
perceptible. Perhaps the chief of the chiefs,
who for the time being held the principal rule,
and was dignified with the royal title, was
elected from among the nobles themselves,
either for that the rest could not oppose his
ambition, or because some enemy was at their
gates.

Such appears to have been the nature of the
government by which the Caledonians were led
in war and ruled in peace. It was as a warlike
people, however, and in the hour of battle, that
they were best known to the Romans; and here,
therefore, oiu' knowledge of them assumes a
more definite aspect. In the record of Tacitus
we have a favourable account of their military
enterprise, coui-age, and skill. Instead of wait-
ing to be attacked, they emerged from their
forests, carried the Roman forts and castles of
Agricola by storm, and so dismayed his officer
by their boldnes.^ that they counselled a retreat.
Tlie night surprise of the ninth legion by the
Caledonians, in which they would liave been
successful had not Agi-icola been warned of
their motions and come to its relief, was as
wisely and skilfully planned as it was daringly
executed. The maimer in which theii- army was
drawn U]> on the slope of the Grampians ex-
hibited gi-eat natural sagacity in strategy, while
the energy and pei'severance with which they
contested the battle to the last, and only yielded
when rcsistiince would have been useless, was
cretlit;ible to their valour and love of liberty.
The manner also in whicli tjiey gave way before
the irresistible inundation of the hosts of Seve-
rus, only to reunite i\i\<\ return when the tide
had rolled back, reminds us of similar move-
ments iluring the brightest |M;riods of the wara
of Scottish indejieudeuce against England, and
which more than once saved the liberty of the

68

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

country from ruin. All these events indicate
strong arms, fearle.ss hearts, and an amount of
knowledge and reflectiveness seldom exhibited
by untaught barbarians. In what miUtary
school, or by what training, had they so learned
the art of war? Feuds among themselves, or
occasional forays into the south, could scarcely
have imparted to the Caledonian chieftains such
sagacity and scientific judgment in warlike
leadership ; and to account for it, we ai'e com-
pelled to bethink oiu-selves of the Druids, and
the coui'se of education in which they trained
the young aristocracy.

This allusion to the military spirit of the
Caledonians naturally leads to an inquiry about
the weapons with which they fought. Of de-
fensive armour they had ahno.st none. Their
chief article of this kind was the .shield, either
small and round, or of an oblong shape, and
with this every combatant seems to have been
armed, and a helmet, which, however, was a
distinction usually confined to their chiefs.
Herodian declares that the Caledonians con-
sidered helmets and coats of mail as incum-
brances; but perhaps a stronger reason for their
scanty armouries may be found in theii' in-
ability either to forge or purchase defensive
armour. Of offensive weapons, however, they
had good store, and of the simple kind that ai'e
common to most barbarous nations. Fu-st of
these was the sword, which, however, was con-
structed more for the application of strength
than skill, being a long heavy iron weapon with
an edge, but no point, and only suitable for a
downright blow. Such, indeed, was the glay-
more, or two-handed sword, with which .the
X. Islesmen and Highlanders in after ages dealt
such perilous strokes upon the crests and steel
corslets of the Norman and Lowland chivaliy.
Swords, however, of a lighter description, leaf-
shaped, and made of bronze, have been dug up
from the ancient Scottish tumuli, indicating
that these were also used by the Caledonians.^
A still earlier and ruder weapon was the stone
celt, also found among the relics of the barrows,
which seems to have been used like a battle-
axe, by having a wooden handle inserted into a
hole made for the purpose, or one made of pliant
oziers twisted round it. Besides these stone
celts, hatchets of bronze have been found in the
same receptacles. But some of these weapons
may have fallen into disuse before the histori-
cal period. Another weapon of the Caledonians
was the lance or spear, which was of consider-
able length, and furnished at the blunt extre-
mity with a hollow ball of brass, which was

1 See introductory chapter, where figures of such swords
are given.

used as a rattle to frighten the horses of the
enemy. If the account of GUdas is to be liter-
ally received they also must have used spears
that had a hook at the extremity for pulling
down an antagonist; and in this way they seem
to have cleared the Roman wall of its defenders,
when they stormed it. But, besides the sword
and spear, the Caledonians used daggers or dirks,
of which several still continue to be dug up. The
use of the bow w;is common among them, as we
learn from Tacitus in his account of the battle of
the Grampians. With these weapons the Cale-
donians made a gallant stand, and an equal fight
of hours against the steady discipline and well-
forged panoply of the legionaries ; and if any-
thing could have equalized such a fearful dis-
parity it must have been the great stature and
strength of these barbarians compared with
the Romans. From the bones that have been
dug up, it is evident that six feet and upwards
was no unusual height among the Caledonians.
A skeleton that measured seven feet, the re-
mains of one wlio probably had fallen in battle
against the soldiers of Agricula, was exhumed
at what has been reckoned the site of the en-
gagement on Ardoch Moor.

Besides their foot-soldiers, the Caledonians
made use of cavalry, but still more of chariots,
for the purposes of warfare. This arm wa-s
common to all the inhabitants of Britain, and
was one of the chief tokens which they pre-
sented of their Asiatic derivation as a Celtic
people. These chariots, called essedce and corvini
by the Roman wiitens, are frequently mentioned
in their accounts of the ware in our island, while
the cars themselves were sometimes exhibited
upon the Roman race-course or arena. The
Roman soldiera, who, in the days of Csesar, hail
forgot this disused instrument of eastern war-
fare, were astonished to encounter it in so remote
a country as Britain ; and the first attacks of
these chariots, the confusion they produced, and
the havoc they occasioned, were perhaps one of
the chief causes of the indecisive result of his
first British campaign. In the south also these
chariots must have constituted a large portion of
their al-mies, as Cassivellaunus, after dismissing
his forces, and betaking himself to a flying war-
fare of skirmishes and surprises, could stUl retain
four thousand of these with their drivei-s and
fighting men. Tacitus mentions the Caledonian
army as being provided with the same means
of annoyance, the chariots being drawn up by
Galgacus upon the level ground between the two
armies. It is evident, however, from the natm-e
of their country, so much intersected by forests,
mountains, and morasses, that the Britons of
the north could not be so well supplied with
these armed chariots as their kinsmen of the

THE CALEDONIANS: SOCIAL STATE.

69

south, who had better scope for their free and
effectual action, and therefore their appearance
at Ardoch Moor was probably more for show
than real servnce. It was after they were swept
off the field that the real tug of war com-
menced, and we hear no more of the chariots.
The fact, however, of the Caledonians being able
to construct vehicles that could be used in such
a mountainous country, seems to indicate the
possession of better tools and more skilful work-
manship, and consequently of a higher degi-ee
of civilization, than the Roman historians were
willing to accord to them. We also learn from
Tacitus that the chief guided the reins and
drove the hoi-ses, while the squire occupied the
car. How long the Caledonians may have used
it in their own tnternational warfare after it
had been laid aside in the south, we are unable
to conjecture ; but that it was used among the
Picts as an article of luxury and for the pur-
poses of comfortable travelling during the sixth
century, is evident fi'om Adamnan's Life of
Saint Columba.

In passing from the warlike weapons to the
every-day costume of the Caledonians we are
startled by the Roman accounts, which are our
only authority on the subject. Dio tells us that
they went naked, and wore no shoes; but
Herodian is more explicit, and gives us a full-
length portrait: "These bai-barians," he says,
" are strangers to the use of clothes ; but they
adorn their bellies and necks with iron trap-
pings, having a belief that iron is ornamental,
and a sign of wealth, in the same manner that
gold is esteemed by other nations. They mark
their bodies with a variety of figures resembling
many different animals. For this reason they
are careful not to cover their bodies for fear of
concealing these figures." Here we are brought
to an awkward pause. Were these Caledonians,
who could construct a war-chariot and all its
trappings, unable to fabricate the most simple
personal covering ? Or were they so impatient
of the burden and restraint of clothing, that
they agreed to dispense with it ? Either way
the dilemma is a serious one. The truth, how-
ever, as often happens in such cases, may lie
midway. We can imagine, for instance, that in
summer, or before strangers, the Caledonian
may have thrown aside his mantle, and this
chiefly for the purpose of soliciting admiration
towards the gay picturing upon his tattooed skin.
Such is vanity even among the rudest, and we
cannot imagine that he would undergo such a
painful and laborious process without giving it
the benefit of a full display. In war, also, the
same impatient independent spirit tliat made
him iniiitlVrent to defensive armour, might in-
duce him to throw aside his cloak; and thus the

astonished Romans, who saw themselves con-
fronted by an army of naked giants, established
the report that these northern tribes were utterly
without clothing. As the visits of the invaders
were only summer campaigns, and as they only
saw the Caledonians when drawn up for con-
flict, their conclusion though a hasty was a
natural one. On this principle, perhaps, we can
get rid of the stigma that deprives our barbarian
ancestors of even a single fig-leaf. But when
the cold frosts and blasts of a Scottish winter
succeeded, the aspect of affairs must have been
completely altered. No merely mortal unde-
fended skin could have weathered out such a
season ; and accordingly the Caledonians must
have betaken themselves to those defences, how-
ever coarse or simple, by which the natural
warmth might be retained, and the freezing
blast excluded, otherwise the whole nation must
have perished in the course of a single winter.
As for the clothing, in such a case, it may have
been of the most primitive description, and re-
quiring little art or industry to prepare it ; but
we know that as long as sheep have wool, or
deer and oxen hides, the rudest savage can find
a mantle. In this way the wardrobe of the Cale-
donian must have been supplied in spite of the
declarations of Dio and Herodian. It was na-
tural also that the upper classes should have
worn skins of better appearance and more
elaborate workmanship than the common people,
and that the latter must have improved their
apparel from the example of the former, as well
as from the general progi'ess of society. But
this course of improvement in costume must
have been slow compared with that of their
brethren of the south, who had the Romans to
instruct them, and who paid dearly for tlie use
of tlie sar/um. Accordingly we find that even
so late as the sixth century the Scots and Picts,
when they stormed the Roman w:dl, were so
scantily attired as to excite the wrathful con-
tempt of Gildas, who says of them, "All were
more eager to shroud their villanous faces in
bushy hair than to cover with decent clothing
those parts of their body which required it."
Yet we are warranted in concluding that even
already the common people habitually wore
leathern coats or jerkins, from a passage in the
Life of Columba.

In the pei-sonal ornaments of the Caledonians
Herodian mentions the iron trap])ings (i)robably
of chain-work) which they wore round their
waists and necks. It is fortunate, however, that
their places of sepulture have exliibited better
articles of adornment, indicating a liigher statp
of civilization th;ui the Roman has voHchs;ife<l
to assign them. These are formed of bone or
horn in the shape of rude pins and necklaces, of

70

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

jet, cannel coal, and ivory, and of glass and
pebble. Fibulie of bronze have been discovered
— a sure proof that to such f;isteniugs a mantle
must have been attached. Amber also was used
in the fabricntion of necklaces. But besides
these types of a better state than mere naked
barbarism, rings, bracelets, and torques of gold
and silver have been foimd in various stages of
artistic ingenuity, some of them evincing a very
considerable degi'ee of taste and skilful work-
manship. So numerous, indeed, ai-e these relics
of ancient Caledonia, and so varying in material
and fabrication, that an attempt has been made
to educe from them the progress that civiliza-
tion must have made among the people diuing
the Px-imitive, Roman, and Pictish periods of
our history. At aU events, we .-u-e able to recog-
nize in these disinterred specimens — attested as
their antiquity is by the places of their depo-
sition— a love of ornament and an ability to
gratify it superior to that which the Roman
historians have recorded. Numerous illustra-
tions of these ornamental articles are given in
works treating of Scottish antiquities.

It is generally in their public buildings that
the character, talents, and resources of a de-
parted people are most distinctly and perma-
nently inscribed ; and to these, therefore, we
gladly turn our attention. As might be ex-
pected in a coimtry where the priesthood were
so influential, the chief relics of this kind left to
us by the Caledonians are supposed to be Dru-
idical and connected with the services of religion.
Of these some account lias already been given.
It is worthy of notice that these vast but rude
erections exhibit no token of a building or grav-
ing tool, and must have had their origin in a very
rude and primitive state of society. But how,
in spite of these impediments, the stones were
torn from their native beds, transported for
mOes across marsh and mountain, and borne up
the hLU, on the top of which they are sometimes
planted, has greatly perplexed the philosophical
inquirer. It seems an unaccountable combina-
tion of utter destitution and helplessness with
an amount of power, science, and skill which
the most refined and intellectual states of so-
ciety cannot always furnish.'

More important still were the barrows of
the primitive inhabitants of Scotland, to our
previous descriptions of which we also refer the
reader. The contents of the coffins, kistvaens,
and urns discovered in these places of interment,
show that the Caledonians sometimes deposited
the body eutii-e, and at other times the ashes
only, after having consumed the corpse upon a

1 As might be expected, the Statistical Account of Scotland
abounds with descriptions of these architectural remains of
the Druidlcal period.

funeral pile. The practice of cremation, however,
at whatever time it may have been prevalent in
Scotland, must have dLsappeared there, as else-
where, with the general diiTusion of Christi-
anity, under which society has always preferred
that the human body should return as dust to
dust by the slow and simple process of nature.
When the body was interred without being
subjected to the process of cremation, it was
sometimes laid at full length, but more fre-
quently in a sitting posture, with the knees
drawn up to the breast. The Caledonians, in
common with most rude tribes, were profuse in
their bm-ial observances, and appear to have
buried with their dead the articles they valued
most while living — such as the horse and arms
of the wai-rior, the dog of the hunter, the rich
ornaments of the man of rank, and the trinkets
and industrial utensils of women. From the
common practice of the earliest antiquity the
history of a nation that has been buried for
thousands of years may be read more fully and
accurately in the recesses of its tombs than in
its written record ; and from these data of the
grave we learn to doubt the stinted measure
that has been assigned by Roman pride to
Caledonian civilization .^

From the early sepulchres of Scotland we
pass to its strongholds ; and here we find fuU
indications not only of a warlike, restless spirit,
but of considerable skill and industry both in
the offensive and defensive appliances of war.
Of these strongholds the most remarkable are
the hill-forts, with the traces of which the coun-
try abounds. These were often of a somewhat
elaborate and artificial construction, and exhibit
a remarkable amount of skiU in castrametation
and military architecture among a peojjle other-
wise considered so barbarous. (See introductoiy
chapter.) They are to be found over the whole
range of Scotland. But they are especially
abundant along the southern declivities of the
Kilsyth and Campsie hUls, where the greatest
danger was to be apprehended ; and from these
strong inclosures the gallant Caledonians could
keep watch upon the Roman wall, or make a
saUy upon some exposed portion of the garri-
son. Such a fort as the White Caterthun,
manned by such defenders, must have been a
desperate task in besieging even for the resist-
less legions. Its rampart of lai'ge loose stones,
upwards of 100 feet thick at the base and 25
at the top, formed a barricade that would have
altogether set at defiance the ancient battering-
ram ; and such a fort must have been taken by
storm, the assailants clambering up its sloping

2Hoare*s.4ncte»i( WUtsJdre, Chalmers" Caledonia, Cough's
Sepulchral Kemaim of Britain, Wilson's Prehistoric An-

THE CALEDONIANS: SOCIAL STATE.

71

sides. "The vast labour it must have cost,"
observes General Roy, " to amass so incredible
a quantity of stones, and cai-ry them to such a
height, surpasses all description."

It is unfortunate that to these temples, tombs,
and fortresses we cannot add a description of the
houses which the Caledonians inhabited. But
while the firet of these places are the homes of
man's undying hopes and feai-s, or unextin-
guishable hatreds, his house is but the dweOing
of a day, and this especially when law ia un-
known or little cared for. The Caledonian,
therefore, who had aided in erecting whole
mountains of granite, would scarcely bestow a
single stone upon the edifice in which he was
merely to eat or sleep, and which he was obliged
to fire with his own hand at the coming of an
enemy. In the absence of other sources of in-
telligence respecting the houses of the Cale-
donians, we are left to conjecture that, like the
natives of South Britain in the days of Ctesar,
they inhabited dwellings similar to those of
their ancestoi-s the Gauls. In this case a Cale-
donian dwelling would be nothing better than
a hut of timber covered with straw, or of up-
right poles interwoven with wattled work in the
form of a cone, terminating at the top either in
a rounded semicircular roof or sharp point.
Such were commonly the houses of the Gauls ;
*- and such, even at the best, were probably the
dwellings of the Caledonians. But as homes like
these were little fitted to withstand the in-
clemency of a northern winter, it has also been
conjectured with some probability that they
converted the natural caves with which the
country abounds into permanent dwelling-
places ; and the idea has been confirmed by the
remains of hand-querns for grinding meal which
have been found in such places. Similar tokens
also indicate, that, like the savages of other
inclement regions, the Caledonians frequently
dwelt in pit-houses, which were slight excava-
tions in the ground, roofed over with the boughs
of trees or sods of turf. The traces of some of
these, constructed in a more permanent fashion,
are still to be found in vaiious parts of Scotland,
composed of large flat stones laid together with-
out any cement. In some cases an accumulation
of eight or ten feet of moss has gathered over
them; and on being laid open to \new, they
have exhibited a rough uncemented stone floor
about six feet in diameter that had been sur-
rounded with a palisade. We can scarcely ima-
gine a combination of such liouses into a town-
ship ; and accordingly, if Caesar could find
iiotliing like a regular town in Soutli Brit^iin,
we need not wonder if no mention is made of
any in tlie north, in the account which Tacitus
has left us of the campaigns of Agricola.

Though we cannot describe any of the struc-
tures inhabited by the Caledonians as theii-
evei-yday dwellings, there are certain subter-
ranean retreats met with here and there that
seem to have served as places at least of tem-
porary abode and also of concealment. These
undergiound dwellings are either whoUy or in
part artificial. Of the first description are
those subterranean buildings called iceems, com-
posed of large rough stones without any kind
of cement, consisting of two or more apart-
ments, each not above five feet in width and
four in height. Their remote origin is fuUy
attested by the fragments of human bones and
coarse uteusUs of iron and stone which have
been occasionally found in them. Those other
underground retreats, which ai'e only artificial
in j)art, are the natmal caves that have been
enlarged and made more commodious by the
labours of their inmates ; and in these obscure
haunts many ages afterwards Wallace, Bruce,
and the other champions of Scottish independ-
ence are said to have concealed themselves
when theii- fortunes were at the lowest. Of
these places the principal are the caves of Haw-
thornden and those of the island of Arran.

As a matter of coui-se the domestic life of a
people who were limited to such narrow ac-
commodations could present little worthy of
mention. The chief relics of the furniture be-
longing to these houses are coai-se specimens of
pottery, clumsily shaped in most cases, and of
fragUe construction, and the hand-quern, with
which every family was probably provided.
Other specimens, however, of Caledonian pot-
tery, either of a later period or that belonged
to pei-sons of rank, indicate a knowledge of the
potter's wheel as well as considerable t;iste and
artistic skill. These superior pieces of workman-
ship seem, in most cases, to have been devoted
to the purposes of .sepulture or the rites of re-
ligion, instead of common use. Of the other
articles of furniture which these cottages must
have possessed we are whoUy ignorant.

In the history of the membei-s of an ancient
British household nothing has been more per-
plexing to the philosopher and historian than
the account which Cwsar gives of the marriage
institutions of the Britons. According to his
statement ten or twelve families used to dwell
under the siune roof, the luisbands having the
wives in common, while previous relationship,
instead of being a check upon such unions, was
rather an encouragement, so that brothers joined
with brothers, and parents with sons, in those
strange matrimonial associations. He adds that
the question of paternity in such cases was
settled by the affiliation of the child upon the
husband to whom the mother had been first

72

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

married. It has been asserted that Cassar must
have been strangely mistaken; and that he
hastily di'ew this revolting picture from ob-
serving whole families dwelling together in one
house, and even, it may be, in one apartment.
^. But no such mistake was made about the Ger-
• maus, who also lived in whole families under a
single roof. Besides, the charge does not rest
with Caesar alone, but was repeated by Xiphi-
linus at a much later period, and when Britain
was better known to the world, so that the
affair itself had become a standing joke at the
profligate court of Rome. This we learn from
a convei-sation which the same ^-riter reports
between the empress Julia and the wife of a
Caledonian prince. The latter on being taunted
about the plurality of husbands which the usages
of her country allowed, frankly acknowledged
the fact; but she stated in defence of her counti-y-
women that they acted avowedly and according
to estabhshed rule, and were faithful to their
mates, while the Roman matrons indulged
secretly in unlimited license in violation of
their national laws. Next comes St. Jerome,
who speaks of the practice as still prevail-
ing in the northern parts of Britain ; that is
to say, so late as the fifth century. The same
strange absence of mai'ital exclusiveuess, which
was common to the Caledonians with their
brethren of the south, appears to have extended
as far as the Hebrides, if we may believe the
testimony of Solinus. "These islands," he says,
" being only separated from each other by narrow
firths or aims of the sea, constitute one kingdom.
The sovereign of this kingdom has nothing which
he can pi-operly call liis own; but he has the free
use of all the possessions of all his subjects. The
reason of this regulation is, that he may not be
tempted to acts of oppression and injustice by
the desire or hope of increasing his possessions,
since he knows that he can possess nothing.
This prince is not even allowed to have a wife
of his own ; but he has free access to the wives
of all his subjects, that, having no children
which he can properly call his own, he may not
be prompted to encroach on the privileges of his
subjects in older to aggrandize his family." If
this instance is not entirely mythic, it shows
that, in the institutions of mai-ri.age among the
early Britons and Caledonians, a tolei-ation had
prevailed which was allowed in no other coun-
try. We can only hope that, like the polygamy
of the Ea-st, it was mainly confined to the
powerful, and that the common people for the
most part were contented with a single and
exclusive helpmate. We also know that the
practice itself was banished by the entrance of
Christianity into the country.

In the every-day life of the ancient Caledo-

nians, the food they used, and the means by
which they procm-ed il, are matters of the
highest importance. But here our information
is so limited that we have little else tlian con-
jecture. Wlien Ca?sar arrived in South Britain
he found the country inhabited by two different
races, the Belgse and the Celts, of whom the
formed lived chiefly on the produce of agricul-
ture, and the latter on that of their flocks and
hunting. Such was also the case with the Cale-
donians, the Celts of North Britain, who are
described as not sufficiently advanced in intel-
ligence to be an agricultural people. The wild
boar, the moimtain bull, and venison must there-
fore have supplied the principal materials of
their flesh-feasts, along with their flocks and
herds of tame cattle, as was the case in the
south, although, perhaps, in more scanty mea-
sure, from the gi-eater barrenness of the soil. The
existence of harjioons and fish-hooks of coarse
manufacture, which have been found among
their e.irliest relics, show that the Caledonians
did not wholly abstain from fish as an article of
diet, although it may have been only used in
cases of necessity. Solinus, indeed, informs
us that the inhabitants of the Hebrides lived
solely on milk and fish. As famine must have
been no unusual cii'cumstance among a people
whose means of subsistence were so precarious
as those of the Caledonians, they are stated to
have adopted, in common with many other
savages, an artificial remedy to deaden the
gnawings of hunger. It is Xiphilinus who in-
forms us that they used for this purpose a cer-
tain composition, of which, when they had eaten
about the size of a bean, their spirits were so
greatly supported that they no longer felt hunger
or thirst.

As the handicraft occupations of the ancient
Caledonians were of the simplest and most
limited character, such was also the case with
their tools, the earbest of which seem to have
been nothing better than knives, chisels, and
adzes of flint. Such in all countries has been
the first step of mechanical art. When metals
were introduced into the country their im-
mense superiority to the hai'dest flint would
be at once recognized ; and a piece of rusty
iron would constitute a man's treasure, because
out of it he could fashion a knife, axe, or
spear that would make him superior to all
his fellows. Hence the bronze axe-heads that
are so frequently found buried among the
remains of the primitive period of Scotland,
but fashioned and even ornamented in a su-
perior style to that of the clumsy stone celt
or wedge. Of the same material have also
been found cei-tain utensils supposed from their
a]ipearance to have been reaping or pruning-

THE CALEDONIANS: SOCIAL STATE.

73

hooks. But as iron is so much superior to bronze
in ductility and hardness, the former metal must
have soon, supereeded the latter, whether for
the forging of warlike weapons or industrial
implements. A_nd that this superior metal had
obtained the preference among the Caledonians
so early as the second century Ls evident from
the remains which have been dug up from the
site of the battle of Mons Grampius. It is
unfortunate, however, that with all the zeal of
antiquarian research, so little shoidd still be
known of the instniments used in Caledonian
workmanship. A sword or dagger is carefully
preserved because its antiquity is at once recog-
nized and its character understood. But a
spade, a chisel, or a knife-blade turned up acci-
dentally by the plough, or disinterred by a
treasure-seeker, is only a shapeless piece of cor-
roded iron, and as such is thrown aside without
further inquiry.

The earliest stages of British ship-building
will always be a subject of national interest,
and in this ciise the vessels which the Cale-
donians used in their rivei-s and seas are worthy
of close attention. But here we are compelled
to confess that the Celtic portion of om- ances-
try were by no means famed for their nautical
activity and enterprise. The whole race in
general, however dai'ing on land, seem to have
avoided the ocean, where skill, patience, and
perseverance are still more needed than courage;
and in these first-mentioned qualities the Celt
of every age and country has been confessedly
deficient. An e.xception to this appeared in the
case of the Scoto-Hibernians when they united
with the Saxon rovers, and afterwards not only
took possession of a part of Scotland, but visited
most of the countries of Europe ; this, however,
was merely a temporary effort which was soon
replaced by the national dislike to the sea. As

VOL. I.

mentioned in the introductory chapter, the
earliest vessels of the Caledonians were canoes
formed from a single tree, hollowed with fire in
the manner of Indian canoes, and like them im-
pelled with paddles. Of these many specimens
have been found buried at the bottom of lakes
and marshes. Such vessels as these could be of
little use except for inland navigation.

Such is the scanty and unsatisfactoiy account
that has been given to us of the ancient inhabi-
tants of Caledonia at their earliest introduction
into the page of history. Indeed, it is little
more than the primitive barbarism of every
country, whether of ancient or more modern
periods — diveraified, it may be, by a few of
those particular features which afterwards be-
came national characteristics. But for this pau-
city of information we have already endeavoured
to account. It might have been expected, how-
ever, that when the country increased in im-
portance and the rude tribes grew into a nation,
our information woidd have been increased with
the growth, so that we should have been able
to trace the progi"ess, and sum up the amount
of civilization, under which the Caledonians had
become Picts and a portion of the gi-eat family
of Christendom. But here, strange, and sad as
well as strange to tell, our information becomes
more limited than ever. We know more of the
infancy of the nation than even of its more
important boyhood. The Picts became at last
a decently-attired people, and they built to^vns,
and churches, and monasteries; but this we
learn only inferentiaUy, and as it were by the
course of accident. Even of the Scots, too, we
only know that they were of the same race and
kindred character with the people to whom they
were finally united. There is a void between
the periods of Galgacus and Kenneth Macalpin
which history has neglected to till up.

PEEIOD II.

FEOM A.D. 843 TO a.d. 1097.

CHAPTER I.

FROM KENNETH MACALPIN TO DEATH OF MALCOLM IL (843-1034).

Reign of Kenneth Macalpin — His wars — Reigns of Donald IH., Constantine II., and Hugh — Of Gregory the
Great, and his fabulous history — Reigns of Donald IV. and Constantine III. — Constantine's victory over
the Danes at Tinmore — Constantine's alliance with the Northumbrians — Battle of Brunanburgh — Reign of
Malcolm I.— Cumberland ceded to Scotland— Malcolm's invasion of Northumberland — Reign of Indulf —
Edinbm-gh left by England to the Scots— Reigns of Duff and Culen — Reign of Kenneth III.— His con-
nection with Edgar, King of England — The Danes invade Scotland — Their defeat at Luncarty — Kenneth's
successes — He sets aside the law of royal succession — His remorse and death — Reigns of Constantine IV.
and Grim — Reign of Malcolm II.— His wars with Sweyn, King of Denmark — Victories of the Scots over
the Danes— Canute's invasion of Scotland — Doubtful termination of Malcolm's reign.

Kenneth, the son of Alpin, better known in
history by his Celtic patronymic of Kenneth
Macalpin, ascended the throne of Pictavia, a.d.
843, after he had reigned two years over the
Dalriad Scots. It was fortunate that the union
of the two people occurred under a chief who
seems to have possessed no ordinary share of
talent both for peace and war, as enemies were
arrayed against the Scots and Picts under whom,
if disunited, they would finally have fallen.
We know little of the martial exploits of Ken-
neth, but that little indicates an active and
not unsuccessful reign. Six times he invaded
Lothian, still a part of England, in consequence
of the aggressions of the Northumbrians, and
burned Dunbar and Melrose, of which they had
taken jjossession. But, besides the English or
Danes of Northumberland, he was obliged to
resist the invasion of the terrible Noree pirate
Ragnar Lodbrog, who penetrated through the
country as far as Clunie and Dunkeld. The
Britons of Strathclyde also, alarmed perhaps at
the formidable neighbourhood of such a united
kingdom as that which Scotland now presented,
invaded the territory, and burned Dumblane.
It was much, indeed, that against so many and
such powerful enemies Kenneth was able to
preserve entire a kingdom occupied by such
discordant races, and as yet unaccustomed to a
single rule.

The other deeds of Kenneth were those of a
just sovereign and wise politician. He removed
the palladium of the Scots, their Stone of Destiny,
from Argyle to Scone, and thus confirmed their
rule there by the assurance of infallible pro-

phecy. He removed the venerated relics of
Saint Columba from then- grave at lona to a
chui'ch which he built for the jnirpose at Dun-
keld, and thus attested his zeal for the faith
that was now professed equaOy by Scot and
Pict. He is also said to have been the author
of the ancient legislative code called the Macalpin
Laws, but upon very uncertain evidence. It is
not unlikely, however, that the regulations
which he must have formed for the purpose of
uniting his lately discordant subjects under a
common government may have been the basis
and groundwork of the code which goes under
his name. After a reign of sixteen years Ken-
neth died on the 6tli of February, 859, at For-
teviot, the royal residence of the kings of Pic-
tavia.

To Kenneth succeeded, not his sou Constan-
tine, but Donald III., the son of Alpin, and
brother of Kenneth, a Celtic form of succession
that was in accordance with the Tanist law.
He is called Donald V. by Boece and Buchanan,
who describe him not only as an imbecile king
but an unprincipled epicure, wasting his time
in riot and sensuality while the country was
invaded by the English. To this, however,
there are counter-statements, also alluded to by
Buchanan, which describe him as a brave and
enterprising prince. After a reign of four years
he died a.d. 863, and was succeeded by his
nephew, Constantine II., the son of Kenneth
Macalpin.

The accession of Constantine occurred at a
dangerous and unfortunate period for Scotland,
the country being exposed to the ravages of the

A.D. 843-1034.]

KENNETH MACALPIN TO MALCOLM II.

75

Danish pirates, the enemies of every country
and plunderers of every coast. Having secured
a footing upon the shores of Ireland after half a
century of conflict, they turned their attention
to Scotland, which they now found worth plun-
dering. From Dublin, which was their chief
mart and harbour, successive fleets of these Ost-
men, a-s the Danes of Ireland were called, en-
tered the Moray Frith and those of the Clyde,
the Tay, and the Forth, wherever plunder could
most abundantly be found ; and dm-ing the in-
terval from 866 to 881 a series of these wasteful
visits had occurred, in which the whole extent of
the coast of North Britain was ravaged without
mercy or limit. It was against such formidable
invadei-s that Constantine had to contend dur-
ing a troubled and disastrous reign of eighteen
years; while his subjects, long unused to a
foreign enemy, weie inferior to the Danes, whose
entei-prise and military skill had been improved
by constant practice. At length his last battle
was fought in 881 near the town of C'rail, where,
on f;dling into the hands of the enemy, he was
dragged into a neighbouring cave, and there
barbarously put to death. In the parish of
CraU, the supposed site of the engagement, the
remains of a rampart, called the Danes' Dyke,
are still pointed out by the inhabitants.

To Constantine II. succeeded his brother
Aodh or Hugh, whose brief reign of one year
was brought to a bloody termination by an
insurrection of his own subjects, headed by
Grig, the powerful Mormaor of the country
between the rivers Dee and Spey. He was
wounded in an engagement which took place
at Strathallan, and died two months afterwards
at Inverary.

Grig, the successful rebel, who succeeded by
his victory to the throne, has such a twofold
and contradictory histoiy as makes his reign
one of the mo.st perplexing in the whole range
of Scottish annals. By the monks of St. An-
drews,' who were careful to register his glorious
deeds, he is expaniled into Gregory the Great,
and made the conqueror of Picts, Britons, Eng-
lish, Irish, and Danes — the very Arthur of
Scottish romantic histoiy, who triumplied and
subdued wherever he fought. But to these
monks, it appears, he was a most liberal bene-
factor; and in return they gave him Linds which
he never visited, and conquests over enemies
whom lie never saw. It w.ts a clieap quittance
for the substantial possessions with which he
endowed tliem. And yet he is utterly un-
noticed in the annals of England and Ireland,
where he might have been allowed to sliine if

I Chronicle In the Kegister of St. Andrews, in Innes's
Appendix.

even with a malignant lustre ! The truth seems
to be, that he was mormaor or chief of Aber-
deen and Banff; and that, ambitious of becoming
a king, he rebelled against his master, and was
suceessfiU. To colour his usurpation he is also
stated to have associated a gi-andson of Kenneth
Macalpin with himself in the government.
After they had thus ruled conjointly eleven
years, a rebeUion of their subjects drove Grig
and his partner from their throne, and the former
is stated to have died in peace in his own castle
of Duunideer in Aberdeenshire four years after
his deposition. Such is all the reality that can
be gleaned of the history of this Gregory the
Great, the contemporary of Alfred of England.

To Gregory succeeded Donald IV., son of
Constantine II. The Danes, hax-ing landed on the
shores of the Tay, were encountered by Donald
at Collin, in the vicinity of Scone, and totally
defeated. In 904 the Danes of Ireland also
invaded the western coast, and had penetrated
neai-ly as far as Forteviot, the new capital of
Scotland, when Donald engaged and defeated
them, but fell in the conflict, after having
reigned eleven years.

The next king was Constantine III., son of
that Aodh or Hugh whom Grig deposed. His
reign was chiefly signalized by Danish inva-
sions, which still continued to be the principal
events both of Enghsh and Scottish history. It
was from the Danes of Ireland that the peril
to Scotland was chiefly to be apprehended, as
they seemed to meditate nothing less than an
entire and permanent conquest of the latter
country. In the eighteenth year of Constan-
tine's reign they entered the Cl3-de, but were
met by the Scottish king at Tinmore, having
under his banner not only an army of his own
subjects, but a strong reinforcement of Anglo-
Danes from the Danelagh of Northumberland.
Thus Dane was opposed to kindred Dane as
well as the Scot to the foreign invader; but for
the alliance which pi-oduced such au an-ange-
ment there was an adequate political c;»use in
the fierce national hostility which still subsisted
between the inhabitants of the Danelagh and
the Sa.xons of the rest of England. Of the
battle which took place at Tinmore the Annals
of Ulster, contrary to their usual practice, give
a full and minute account. The Danish and
Norwegian invaders from Ireland, under the
coniinaiul of Reginald, were drawn up by that
practised leader into four divisions, the last of
which he placed in ambush, with the purpose
of charging at its head when some opjiortune
moment arrived. The Scottish onset was made
with such vigour that the three Danish divi-
sions were broken through; but while the victors
were probably disordered by their own success

76

they were suddenly assailed in the rear by
Reginald, while the fugitive Danes rallied and
returned to the chai-ge. The battle thus re-
newed was continued upon equal terms till
night; but the retreat of the invaders, and the
comparatively small loss which the Scots had
sustained, left all the advantages of victory to
the latter. This was tacitly acknowledged by
the Danes themselves, as many years elapsed
before they repeated their hostile visits to Scot-
land.

But although Constantine had been aided in
this successful resistance by his efficient allies
of Northumbria, the league oifensive and de-
fensive which he had made with the men of
the Danelagh was to be accompanied with its
correspondent disadvantages. These Danish
rovera had not yet subsided either into an in-
dustrious settled population or true Meges of
the English crown ; on the contrary, they kept
up their communication with their piratical
brethren of the north, obeyed no sovereign but
their own princes, and were always ready to
promote every revolution or invasion that might
place the English crown upon a Danish head.
Through this cause the alliance of Scotland
with Northumbria brought the former into
hostile contact with the formidable power of
England, and was an early prelude to those
contests between the two rival nations which
five centuries were scarcely sufficient to assuage.
The first-fi-uits of this alliance with the Dane-
lagh, by which England and Scotland were
brought into such undesirable collision, occun'ed
in 924. Edwaj-d, who had succeeded to the
throne of his father Alfred and successfully
repressed the revolts of the Danelagh, now
turned his attention to Scotland ; and although
we read neither of an invasion made nor battle
fought, the English chroniclei-s bestow upon
him all the advantages of both, for they tell us
that the Welsh, the Scots, the inhabitants of
Strathclj'de and Cumbria, and the people of
Galloway did homage to his superiority, and
accepted lum as their " lord, father, and pro-
tector." In the absence of other history these
loose monkish statements were dangerous docu-
ments in the hands of Edward Longshanks at
a time when it was not easy to meet them with
denial or refutation.

The nest event that arose from this alliance
with Northumbria was of a more intelligible
character, and was signalized by woe and dis-
aster to Scotland. Athelstane, the son of Ed-
ward, had succeeded to the English crown, and
having signalized his reign by reducing the
greater part of Wales and Cornwall to subjec-
tion, he also attempted an invasion of Scotland
both by land and sea. This event is dated a.d.

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 84S-1034.

934. Tlie old English records of coui'se magnify
this inroad into an eventful and victorious pro-
giess, in which Constantine was so effectually
humbled that he was obliged to purchase peace
with valuable presents, and by giving his son
as a hostage for its observance. It is probable,
however, that the King of Scots stood wholly
on the defensive, as no battle appears to have
been fought; and that Athelstane returned to
England with the empty glory of having made
an invasion and met with no resistance. Still
the event was enough to initate if it did not
dismay the heart of Constantine, and for the
pui-j30se of making reprisals with effect he
established the most formidable league that had
ever as yet been combined against England.
Its membei's, besides himself as head, consisted
of Olave or Anlaf, the Danish King of Dublin,
his son-in-law; another Anlaf, the Danish
King of Northumbria; the Danish Prince of
the Hebrides; Owen, King of Cumberland;
and a large anay of Danish and Norwegian
princes and jarls, each of whom ruled as an
independent sovereign in his own bay or islet,
and could bring a formidable troop to the
general rendezvous. The combined anny, con-
veyed in a fleet of six hundred and fifteen ships,
entered the Humber and lauded at Brunan-
burgh.i But the vigilant and energetic Athel-
stane was pi'epared for the emergency; and
having collected a numerous army, he came
down upon the invadere before they could com-
mence operations either for the reduction of
Northumbria or a hostile advance into Eng-
land. The battle that ensued lasted a whole
day, and with various fortunes, untU at sunset
victory declaimed in favour of Athelstane. It
was perhaps the greatest and most sanguinary
conflict that as yet had been fought in England;
and while men in after ages talked of the vic-
tory, it was doubtless coupled with the remem-
brance that the invasion had come from Scot-
land. Five Danish vikings and seven northern
jarls lay dead on the field; and Constantine
himself, after seeing his valiant son numbered
with the slain, escaped with Anlaf to his ships
and hoisted sail for Scotland.

The rest of the long reign of Constantine III.
may be briefly told. When the battle of Brun-
anbui-gh occurred, which bereaved him of a son
as well as the better part of his aimy, he was
an old man ; and perhaps the dreams of royal
and military ambition which had been so rudely
disturbed could no longer be recalled. In the

1 The place so designated cannot now be ascertained, and
various localities have been conjectured as the .indent
Brunanburgh — such as Bum in the south, and Burgh in the
north of Lincolnshire. All that can be decided is that it
was not far from the Humber, and upon its southern shore.

A.D. 843-1034.]

KENNETH JMACALPIN TO MALCOLM II.

77

fortieth year of his reign he adopted the ex-
pedient so frequent among the English sove-
reigns; he laid aside his crown for a monk's
cowl, retired to the monastery of St. Andrews,
and there became a C'uldee abbot, while he was
succeeded in his throne and his cai'es by Mal-
colm I., son of Donald IV.

As this voluntary abdication appeal's to have
been an unwonted event in Scotland, it was the
signal of popular commotion ; and the accession
of Malcolm was opposed by Kelach, Mormaor
of Moray, who at the head of his turbulent
clansmen, known in ancient Scottish history as
the Moray-men, excited a formidable rebellion.
This was suppressed by a victory obtained by
Malcolm over the insurgents, in which Kelach
himself was slain.

A more important event than the suppression
of a dangerous subject was the acquisition of
territory to the Scottish crown which occurred
at this period, and through an alliance more
politic and profitable than that which had been
made with the Noreemen. This was with Eng-
land, whose king, Edmund the Atheling, was
involved in such troubles with the Danes of
Northumbria under Anlaf, who had returned
from Ireland to the Danelagh, that he was glad
to purchase the neutrality of Scotland by an
important concession. Accordingly, having con-
quered Cumbria, which had rebeUed against
him, and driven out its king, Duumial, he pre-
sented the sovereignty of this district, of which
he could not easUy retain possession, to Malcolm
of Scotland, within whose reach it was more
conveniently placed, upon the condition of de-
fending the north of the island against Danish
invasion and becoming the ally of the English
king. Upon these easy terms Cumberland be-
came a part of the gi'owing kingdom of Scotland.

Events soon occurred that summoned Mal-
colm to discharge his debt, and this he did
faithfully and bravely. In tlie reign of Edred,
the brother and successor of Edmund the
Atheling, the Danes of Northumbria, aided by
swarms of their countrjnnen from Denmark,
Norway, and Ireland, and from the Orkneys
and Hebrides, in which they had obtained a
settlement, now broke out into their wonted
rebellion, and endeavoured to set up an inde-
pendent kingdom of their own. Several battles
ensued, in which the English were victorious,
and Northumberland was in consequence incor-
porated with England, and placed under the
government of an earl appointed by the Eng-
lish sovereign. During this dangerous revolt
the promised aid of M.alcolm w;»s demanded;
and, true to his promise, he entered Lothian —
at that time a portion of the English territory
— which he overraji, and proceeded to Invade

Northumberland. There he was not slow to
imitate the merciless proceedings of the English
annies, for he w;isted the devoted province with
fire and sword, and carried off many prisoners
and abundance of cattle — acquisitions of vital
importance to a country so poor and so thinly
peopled as Scotland. The reign of Malcolm was
closed in disaster. The Moray-men having re-
newed their rebellion, the king marched to the
Meanis to encounter them, and was killed at
Fetteresso. Report adds that his death was
not in the battle, but from conspiracy and by
the stroke of an assassin.

On the death of Malcolm I., Indulf, the son of
Constantino III., ascended the Scottish throne,
A.D. 953. The chief events of his reign occurred
in the form of Da'.iish invasions. These terrible
maraudere, who were kept at bay upon the coasts
of England by the formidable fleet which Edgar
its king had raised, turned theii- prows to the
weaker shores of Scotland, although its barren
harvests could SKircely equal the gleanings of the
rich fields of the south. Having elTected a land-
ing at Gamrie in Buchan, they were proceeding
to their wonted occupation of plunder when they
were encountered and defeated by the mormaor
of the district. This event is still commemor-
ated by the people of that locality as the battle
of the Bloody Pots. It only sei-ved as the prelude
to a more serious invasion, which was made
A.D. 961, the Danes being incensed not only at
their late defeat, but the recession of Scotland
from the Danish alliance. They landed in the
bay of Cullen in Banffshire, and were encoun-
tered by Indulf upon a moor to the westward
of that town. The traditions of this conflict
have an aii- of reality that is entitled to respect.
According to these the battle was maintained on
both sides with gi-eat spirit and equal fortune
until an ambush suddenly fell upon the rear of
the Danish troops, who were broken in conse-
quence and pursued to their ships. ludidf
joined in the chase; but having fallen at un-
awares upon a band of the enemy who had
withdrawn themselves under cover in a valley,
he was encountered, overpowered, and slain,
after a short reign of eight yeare.

During this period an event occurred of
gi-eater importance to Scotland than such ob-
scure victories over Danish rovers and pirates.
"At this time," says the Pictish Chronicle, "the
town of Edwin was abandoned and left to the
Scots, even until the present day." It is sup-
posed that Athelstane, when he invaded Scot-
land in 934, had established a garrison in this
place, which was subsequently recalled in conse-
quence of the troubles in England, and that the
town of Edwin remained thus unclaimed until
Scotland had means as well as right to enter

78

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 813-1034.

and occupy it. This was .afterwards done when
Lothian was formally ceded to the Scottish
crown ; and thus Edwin's town beca,me the
capital not only of the new province, but at
last of the kingdom at lai-ge — the Edinburgh
of Scottish history and the Athens of modern
ages.

Indulf was succeeded by Oda, son of Malcolm
I., whose Celtic distinction of Duif, or the Black
(probably from the dai-kness of his complexion),
has been adopted by our annalists as his real
name, and it is by this that he is known in
history. In his case the Tanist rule of succes-
sion imported by Fergus from Ireland, and
which supplanted the unintelligible Pictish
order of kingly appointments at the accession
of Kenneth Macalpin, was now to receive a
rude shock. This originated in the ambition
of Culen, the son of Indulf, who was displeased
with the ancient aud venerated Celtic rule by
which brother succeeded brother instead of a
son the father. His discontent in this case was
inflamed into actual rebellion through the perni-
cious counsels of Duncha, the Abbot of Duukeld,
an ambitious ecclesiastic who perhaps hoped to
found a priestly goveniment of his own through
the influence of his royal pupU. The rivals
encountered at Dimeiiib in Perthshire, and in
the battle Culen was defeated, and his coun-
sellor Duncha slain. But Culen was still suffi-
ciently powerful to keep the field, and Duff'
was defeated in tiu-u and compelled to seek
safety in flight. After a troubled reign of four
years and a half he was assassinated at Forres,
A.D. 965, and with cii'cumstances so like those
of the assassination of the "gracious Dimcan"
by Macbeth, as to warrant us in believing that,
if true, they belong wholly to Duff" instead of
his descendant.

Culen obtained the throne which he coveted ;
but his short reign, which was without honour,
was closed by a disgraceful death. Since the
reign of Constantine III. the Britons of Strath-
clyde, who had accepted his brother Domnal for
their king, had lived in close amity with the
Scots, when Culen broke this fair union by vio-
lating the daughter of Andarch their king, the
son of Domnal. The men of Strathclyde, indig-
nant at this insult to their prince, adopted it iis
a cause for national quaiTel ; and in a conflict
which ensued between them and the Soots in
Lothian, Culen was slain, after he had reigned
only four- yeare and six mouths.

The Scottish crown now devolved upon Ken-
neth III., sou of Malcolm I., who succeeded
A.D. 970. He continued that wai- with the
Britons of Strathclyde which his imworthy pre-
decessor had occasioned, and prosecuted it with
such success that the kingdom of Strathclyde

was subdued and annexed to Scotland. By
some of the old English chroniclei-s the inter-
course which occuned between Kenneth III.
of Scotland and Edgar, King of England, who
assumed the lofty titles of " Emperor of Albion,
King of the English, and of all the nations and
islands around," is made to assume the relation-
ship of a dependent sovereigu to his feudal su-
perior. According to these accounts si.x crowned
kings (in one statement the number is raised to
eight) rowed the barge of Edgar to the monas-
tery of St. John's on the river Dee, in North
Wales, thus acknowledging their vassalage,
while Edgar himself guided the helm, and it
is stated that one of these kings was Ken-
neth, King of Scotland. But if this aquatic
exploit was anything more than a frolicsome
boating excursion, it was probably a meeting
of the allied potentates among whom Britain
was still divided, for the purpose of concocting
a plan of common defence against the Danish
invasions, which now threatened the subjuga-
tion of the whole island. One fact of a more
certain character is that, a.d. 973, Edgar re-
quired of Kenneth the fulfilment of those terms
on which Cumberland had been ceded to Scot-
land, and that the Scottish king accordingly con-
ducted an invasion against the Northumbrians,
by whom the peace of England still continued
to be disturbed. He ravaged the Danelagh and
carried off" the son of its earl prisoner.

A stiU more important part of Kenneth's
obligation in this compact with England was to
guard the northern coasts against the Danes,
and prevent then- entrance through his own do-
minions into the English territories. His ability
for this important task was now to be fully
proved. After several attempts on the north-
eastern coast of Scotland, which were attended
with indecisive residts, the Danes concentrated
then- force, entered the Tay with a numerous
fleet, and advanced with the purpose of com-
mencing operations by plundering Dunkeld.
With such troops as he could muster on
so hasty a notice Kenneth advanced to the
encounter, which took place upon the famous
field of Luncarty, near the town of Perth, and
on the southern side of the Tay. The right
wing of the Scottish army was headed by Mal-
colm, Prince of Cumberland, and therefore
heir-apparent to the crown ; the left by Duncan,
Moi-maor of Athol; while Kenneth himself
took charge of the centre. As he foresaw the
prospect of a terrible onset from the Danes, he
encouraged his troops by promising to absolve
them from their wonted military service dui-ing
the term of five years, and by offering ten
pounds, or an equivalent value in land, to every
man who would bring him the head of a Dane.

A.D. 843-1034.]

KENNETH MACALPIN TO MALCOLM II.

79

After this the battle joined with equal fierce-
ness on either side ; the Danes, who had entered
the country chiefly for the purpose of reaching
the tempting plunder of England, were ani-
mated with double fury when they saw the
eagerness of the Scots to obtain their heads,
and fought with the desperation of men who
expected no quarter. At last both the right
and left wings of the Scottish ai-my were
driven off the field, so that none were left to
resist the Danes but the centre, under the com-
mand of Kenneth, which was a.ssailed in front,
flank, and rear. At this moment, when all
seemed to be lost, the tide of fortune was sud-
denly turned by one of those wonderful incidents
with which the warfare of all ages and coun-
tries abounds. A strong stalwai-t peasant named
Hay, with his two sons, who had hastily ai'med
themselves with plough-yokes and come down
to take share in the common danger, eutei'ed a
naiTOw lane tkrough which their countrymen
were flying. Here they closed up the pass,
and, not content with exhorting the fugitives
to return and fight bravely, they plied their
heavy weapons indiflerently upon pureuers and
pursued. The foremost gave back and tui-ued ;
a new impulse was impai^ted to the tide ; and
the hundreds who a few moments before had
been in headlong flight, wheeled round with
fresh alacrity upon the astounded Danes and
commenced the battle anew. This unexpected
charge, that was mistaken for the onset of a
new army, paralysed the Danes, and their vic-
tory was quickly turned into a defeat so fatal
that few escaped to their ships. Such was the
battle of Luncarty, whose memory formed a
guiding-star to Scottish courage untO its light
was eclipsed in the superior brightness of Ban-
nockburn ; and in this manner England as well
as Scotland was delivered for the time from a
formidable enemy. But what shall we say of
the peasant-patriot and his sons, to whom the
glory w;is attributed? We are told that the
Hays were a Norman family, and that they did
not come into Scotland until the middle of the
twelfth century — and thLs because their names
do not appear in the subscriptions of any charters
prior to that period. It is upon such an uncer-
tain argument that we are required to forego
an incident as creditable and certainly as pleas-
ing as any of those in which so many of the
noble houses of Europe have originated.

Although Kenneth III. was one of the
ablest, he was certainly also one of the most
unscnipulous rulei-s of his day. This he evinced
by the manner in which he annexed the king-
dom of Strathclyde to his own, and thus
made the Dalriad sovereignty paramount over
the northern division of the island. The same

proceeding liad been going on in the south,
where the successors of Alfred had been em-
ployed in reducing the discordant portions of the
Heptarchy into a compact government; and thus
at the present period there were only two lords
paramount over the whole of Britain, and these
were Edgar of England and Kenneth of Scot-
land. Another aim which Kenneth sought to
accomplish during the latter part of his reign
was of a more pei-sonal but also of a more difti-
cult character — it was to set aside the Tauist
law of succession in favom- of his own son Mal-
colm, at that time a mere stripling, between
whom and the crown stood another Malcolm,
son of Duff, who as Tanist of the kingdom held
the rank of Prince of Cumberland. Not long
after he of Cumberland suddenly and mysteri-
ously died, and men did not scruple to assert
that he had been poisoned at the instigation of
the king. These evil reports were strengthened
after Kenneth had called a council and urged
its members to alter the ancient Celtic rule, so
that a son might succeed the father in the
throne, and have the affaii-s of the kingdom, if
a minor, superintended till he came of age by a
regency. His nobles, overcome by his energy
and alarmed at his remorseless mode of silencing
opposition, gave a reluctant assent, and his son
Malcolm was installed in the principality of
Cumberland as a prepai-ative to his wearing
the royal crown. But able and cunning though
Kenneth was, and sanctioned as was his aim by
the example of every djiiasty of Europe, the
tenacity of a Celtic habit was not thus to be
rooted up in a day or by a single hand, and
two reigns followed before Malcolm became
King of Scotland.

After this the soul of Kenneth appeai-s to
have been troubled with remorse; his slee])
was scared with visions ; and when he woke in
the night he thought he heard a voice from
heaven denouncing his crimes, and assuring
him that his posterity, for which he had sinned
so deeply, would occupy a troubled and uncer-
tain throne. In despair he betook liimself to
the counsel of monks and priests, and they, in
conformity with the religious spirit of the age,
directed him to found churches and monasteries,
to submit himself to the guidance of the clergy,
and make pilgrimages to sacred shrines and
relics. He complied by endowing the church
with rich gifts' and humbling himself to the
prescribed observances. But these acts only
accelerated the judgment which they sought to
avert. Having wandered in the remorse of his
pilgrimages to the Mearus, where the bones of

1 The chief of theso was Brechin. In the Pictish Chronicle
this ktnc is characteriied aa " he who gave the great city ol
Brechin to the Lord."

80

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

St. Palladius were preserved, he turned aside
to visit tlie castle of Fettercairn, and thus came
within reach of its owner, Fenella, a lady whose
sou, CVathilinth, governor of Mearus, he had
formerly executed for rebellion. Bent upon
revenge, she caused the doating pilgrim-king
to be assassinated, but in what manner does
not cleai'ly appear. In this inglorious manner
Kenneth's life was closed after a brilliant and
prosperous reign of twenty-four years.

The arrangements of Kenneth III., instead
of elFectiug the abrogation of the Tanist law
of succession, only seem to have complicated
it with new difficulties ; for not only were the
claims of his son Malcolm to immediate posses-
sion set aside, but two pretendei-s raised up for
the vacant throne. These were Constantine
surnamed the Bald, the son of the infamous
Culen, and Kenneth surnamed Grim, the son of
Duff. The former under the title of Constan-
tine IV. enjoyed the crown little more than a
year, when he was defeated and slain by his
successful rival neai- the river Almond, in Perth-
shire.

On the death of Constantine the throne of
Scotland was occupied by Kenneth TV., sur-
named Grim, on account of his great strength,
which was combined with a stately pei-son and
ingratiating manners. He was not, however,
to reign in peace; for Malcolm, son of Kenneth
III., now stepped into the field, and iisserted
his double claim to royalty both by Tanist
law and the agi-eement of the nobles with his
father. The kingdom was on the eve of being
rent by a civil war, when Fothadus, a bishop of
great influence, mediated between the contend-
ing princes, and persuaded them to a compro-
mise, by which Grim was to retain the title of
king duriug life, and Malcolm, Prince of Cum-
berland, to succeed him, while the succession
thereafter was to devolve upon the children of
the latter according to the law established by
Kenneth. But this compact fared as such agree-
ments usually do when a crown is at stake in
more civilized communities and better govern-
ments than those of Scotland. Grim, who was
thus reduced to a mei-e life-tenant of the kingly
office, was resolved to make the most of it while
it lasted; and from this motive he proceeded to
pillage both nobles and people as if they had
been enemies rather than his own subjects.
Such conduct naturaUy drove them to seek
redress from Malcolm, who duiing this tyi'annj'
had been fully occujiied in the defence of North-
umberland against the Danish invasions,
which had now multiplied against England to
an alarming amount. The Prince of Cumber-
land, on obtaining a breathing interval from his
occupations in the Danelagh, gladly responded

[a.d. 843-1034.

to the call, and hastened to the defence of his
plundered inheritance, which Grim continued
to rack without stint. At Monnivaird the two
armies approached each other; and as Ascension-
day had arrived, which was a usual season of
peace over the whole Christian world, Glim
resolved on that day to attack his enemies, hop-
ing to tuid them off their guard and employed
in the wonted devotions. But in this he was
disappointed : Malcolm was warned and ready
to receive him; and in the battle that followed.
Grim was deserted by the greater pai-t of his
followere, wounded in the head, taken prisoner,
and forthwith deprived of his eyes, according
to the savage practice then prevalent among
both Danes and Saxons. His claims to royalty
and power to enforce them being thus extin-
guished, he died in captivity after a reign of
ten yeare.

The long-delayed sceptre was now eagerly
grasped by the conqueror, who succeeded to the
kingdom under the title of Malcolm II. (1004).
The gi-eat national danger as well as chief cala-
mity still continued to be the Danish invasions,
which had now nothing less than the conquest
of the whole island for their object ; and they
were repeated at every assailable point whether
Scottish or EngHsh that promised the easiest
entrance to theii- purposed object. In the reign
of Malcolm II. these visitations were renewed
in Scotland chiefly from the pei-sonal resentment
of Sweyn, the son of Harold, King of Denmark.
This prince, having been banished from his
country, came, after a wild life of unsuccessful
war and adventure, into Scotland to obtain
assistance against his enemies; and there he
embraced Christianity, after having been one of
its bitterest persecutore. But his conversion
was of the old Norse character, which left ample
room for the rooted habits of piracy and blood-
shed, and even for a fresh return into heathen-
ism; and he is said to have been baptized more
than once into the Christian faith. On receiving
aid in the form of a small band of auxiliaries,
Sweyn returned to Denmark, and on the murder
of liis father obtained possession of the Danish
throne. After this he was the most terrible of
all the northern enemies that England had
hitherto encountered, and finally became its
conqueror and king. It was in the course of
this conquest that Sweyn was encountered by
Scottish auxiliaries in the English armies, to
whose support they had been sent in accordance
with the old agreement that had given Cum-
berland to Scotland. The merciless conqueror,
either ignorant of such a treaty or like a tiiie
Dane cai-eless about its sanctions, ordered these
troops to return to their own country, and on
their refusal he directed hia resentment against

THE DEFEAT OF THE DANES AT LUNCARTY,
NEAR PERTH.

When Scotland was invaded by the Danes in the year a.d. 973, their
forces entered the Tay, and concentrated at Luncarty, near Perth. A
Scottish army advanced to oppose them, led by Kenneth III. and his son
Malcolm. Both forces joined battle with equal fierceness, but at length
the right and left wings of the Scots were defeated, while the centre division
was heavily assailed upon all sides. Just at this desperate moment a
peasant named Hay, with his two sons, hastily armed themselves with
plough-yokes, and dashed into a narrow lane through which their defeated
countr)men were wildly fleeing. The three men quickly barred this pass,
droi'e the panic-stricken Scots back into the conflict, and themselves led a fiery
onset upon the astonished Danes. As a result of this brave act, the Scottish
army rallied and renewed the battle, so that the Danes were defeated with
great slaughter.

1'1-H.AI ul Ulli I).\\l.> Al LL.NLAklV .NKAK IMCRTII ,\,„, ,

Hav Willi HIS TWO SONS ARMED WITH PLOUGH-YOKES TURN THE TIDE OF BATTLE.

A.D. 84S-1034.]

KENNETH IIACALPIN TO MALCOLM II.

81

the land that had formerly sheltered him, as if
it had now abandoned and betrayed him. A
Banish army was sent into Scotland, which
made a descent upon Moray, and after wasting
the whole open country proceeded to besiege
the strongholds and forti-esses within which the
Scots had entrenched themselves. Malcolm
hastened to their relief; but the Danes were so
numerous that his forces were quickly routed,
and him.self so severely wounded that he escaped
with difficulty from the field. After this un-
fortunate conflict the castle of Nairn yielded to
the conquerors ; the other castles of Elgin and
Forres imitated the example ; and the Danes,
having thus obtained a firm footing iu Moray,
resolved to establish it as a permanent settle-
ment. Accordingly they cut through the penin-
sula upon which the castle of Nairn stands, thus
converting the site into an island that could at
all times be reinforced from the sea, and sent
their fleet home for their wives and children.
They had now won for themselves a com-
modious harbour and a safe retreat, from which
they might caiTy their devastations over those
wealthy inland districts that as yet had remained
untouched.

In the meantime Malcolm, alarmed at the
establishment of such a dangerous colony within
his kingdom, made every preparation to dis-
lodge it; and having collected an army more
numerous and better appointed than that which
had lost tlie day at Nairn, he advanced against
the invaders, who had now penetrated into Mar.
An encounter took place at Mortlach, A.D. 1010.
At the commencement the Scots had the worst
of it, for they lost thi-ee of their principal mor-
maors, and were driven back to their entrench-
ments in the rear. But from their skilful ene-
mies they seemed to have already learned the
art of defensive warfare ; for, instead of betak-
ing themselves to flight after this serious repulse,
they strengthened their position with a ram-
part, ditch, and palisades, leaving only a narrow
opening by which they coidd be assailed. The
battle was here renewed and the tide of fortune
reversed, for the Danes, who rashly att;icked the
Scots in their entrenchments, were routed in
turn, and .so effectually that they fled in great
disorder. Malcolm wisely withheld his raw
levies from pursuit, and the fugitives were
allowed to reach Moray in .s;ifety.

Wlien tidings of this defeat came to Swejm
in England he saw too well the value of the
occupation won in Scotland to relinquish it, and
he accordingly sent a strong reinforcement by
sea imder the command of Camus to assist his
countrymen in Moi-ay. Tlie.se invadera first
attempted a landing iu the Frith of Forth; but,
on being repulsed, they directed their course

to the Redhead La Angus, where they disem-
barked and pitched their camp at the village of
St. Bride. Here tliey were soon encountered
by a strong Scottish force, and defeated with
considerable loss ; upon which Camus drew off
the remains of his army and endeavoured to
effect a junction with the Danes in Moray.
But he had scarcely proceeded two miles in his
retreat through an unknown couutiy and with-
out giiides when he was again encountered by
the Scots, who obstinately followed his track
and brought him to bay ; and in this second
battle he fell with all his follower. The fate
of this Danish army, and the places of those
encoimtei's in which it was successively defeated,
were plentifully commemorated by names and
monuments. The village which rose on the site
of this last encounter is still called Camuston;
and its obelisk, Camuston Cross, is supposed to
have been the cairn of the northern chieftain.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century
the ploughshare laid open a sepulchre inclosed
with four stones beside this moniunent, in which
a gigantic human skeleton was laid, having the
skull cleft as with the stroke of a battle-axe ;
and from tlie Danish structui-e of the tomb and
its connection with the obelisk, the skeleton,
with some degree of justice, was supposed to be
that of the unfortunate Camus.

It was probably as part of the same momen-
tous invasion, which had for its object the
relief of the Danes of Moray, that another
detachment of these formidable rovers was cut
to pieces in the neighbourhood of Slains Castle,
Abeideenshire, after they had suffered a signal
defeat near the town of Brechin. Those who
escaped from the slaughter fled to their ships
under shelter of night, and, after being tossed
about for several days by contrary winds upon
the coast of Buchan, were obliged to land to
the number of five hundred for the purpose of
obtaining provisions. But scarcely had they
set foot upon the shore when they were assailed
by Mernun, the mormaor of the district, and
driven to a steep hiU ; and here they made so
skilful and determined a rally as kept the
pureuers in check notwithstanduig their over-
whelming nimibers. At last the Danes were
overpowered and died fighting to a man, well
knowing that it was useless to crave for that
quarter which they had never been wont to
bestow.

These disa-stere, heavy though they were, could
not daunt the conquerors of Normandy and
England, more especially under such a leader as
SwejTi ; and the royal Dane, who either at this
time or soon after was proclaimed "full King of
England" in consequence of the fliglit of its de-
spairing sovereign, Ethelred, to Normandy, sent

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 843-1034.

a fresh army into Scotland, at the head of which
was his son, afterwards renowned in history
under the title of Canute the Great. At the
coming of such an antagonist Scotland had the
utmost need of all her caution as well as aU her
valour. The Danes landed in Buchan ; and
Malcolm, who perhaps was speedily made aware
that they were under a better commander than
those luckless chieftains who had jireceded him,
stood cautiously on the defensive. He therefore
contented himself with a war of skirmishes and
cutting off the foragei's of the Danish camp.
But the hunger which this occasioned to the
enemy was also extended to his own troops,
and both armies were impatient for battle.
The conflict between two such warriors as the
Danish prince and the Scottish king was con-
ducted with equal skill and valour; and after a
long struggle, in which great loss was sustained
on either side, the weary combatants parted on
equal terms. But the advantages of such a
doubtful fight remained with the Scots, who had
theii' resources at hand and could be easily re-
inforced, so that when on the following morning
they drew up for a fresh encounter they found
the enemy willing to treat for peace. An agree-
ment accordingly was concluded upon the terms
that the Danes should evacuate Moray and
Brechin; that the Scots and Danes should
thenceforth live in mutual peace, neither of
them assisting the enemies of the other; and
that the battlefield should be set apart and
consecrated to the burial of the dead. As a
permanent record of this treaty, the memorial-
stone called Sweyn's Pillar is supposed to have
been erected at Forres. Thus a Danish conquest
of Scotland, which seemed as inevitable as that
which about the same time befell England, was
happily prevented. It is true, indeed, that these
events, which om- old Scottish historians have
related with so much complacency, have been
questioned or rejected by the scrupulous histor-
ical inquirers of the present day; but they have
not attempted to explain, in return, how so
many ancient monuments were erected in these
localities, or what deeds and heroes they were
designed to commemorate.

This compact with Sweyn must have occurred
before the year 1014, in which the Danish King
of England died. Having thus got rid of the
most formidable of his enemies by a treaty which
the Dane, who now had higher objects of ambi-
tion, was little inclined to interrupt, Malcolm
II. had full leisure to prosecute those wars
which assaUed him from less important antago-
nists. Accordingly we find him, a.d. 1018,
invading Northumberland, with whose earl,
Uchtred, he was in hostile collision; and in a
desperate battle which ensued between them at

Carham, near Werk or Wark, the Northumbrian
magnate appears to have been the conqueror.
But he did not live to enjoy the fruits of his
success, having been assassinated on his way to
the com't of Canute, who had lately succeeded,
by the death of his father Sweyn, to the throne
of England; and the eai-ldom of Northumberhmd
devolved upon Eadulf, the brother of Uchtred,
between whom and Malcolm the war was con-
tinued. Eadulf, however, was less fortunate
than his brother, and he consented to a lasting
peace by ceding Lothian in perpetuity to the
Scots. In this brief and unsatisfactory manner
the acquisition of a territory of such vital im-
portance to Scotland is announced by an old
English chronicler.' Another intimation equally
indistinct brings Canute the Great once more
into Scotland — unless, indeed, the Canute who
formei^ly invaded it was not the son but the
brother of Sweyn, as Boece has declared.
Whether the conquest of the kingdom of Scot-
land or jjersonal resentment at its sovereign
was the motive of this portentous arrival of
Canute, which is said to have occurred a.d.
1031, is involved in the same obscurity. It is
certain, however, that neither the conquest nor
the humiliation of Scotland was the result. All
that Canute obtained, and all perhaps that he
sought, was a more punctual observance of the
terms on which Cumberland had been ceded to
the Scottish crown, and which Malcolm, during
the course of these Border wai's, may have been
remiss in discharging; and having obtained
this, the gi-eat king returned, .npparently satis-
fied, to England. Cumberland and Lothian
still remained in the secure possession of Scot-
land.

Such were the chief actions of Malcolm II.,
as far as they can be ascertained tlu-ough the
glimmer and gloom of so remote a period. It waa
a reign remarkable for its energy, and the im-
portant acquisitions which it secured for Scot-
land both of territory and political influence;
but unfortunately it has been more deeply ob-
scured by antiquarian cavil and debate than any
previous portion of our history. And yet all this
uncei-taiuty was but the token that the dawn was
approaching, and that the light, which had now
so faintly commenced, would soon brighten and
predominate. The last days of the reign of Mal-
colm II. are involved in a double portion of this
struggling and shifting uncertainty. He is said
to have made a division of all the lands of Scot-
land into baronies at the Mote-hill of Perth,
and to have bestowed them upon his nobles
according to their services; but we nowhere
find evidence of such unlimited power being

I Simeon of Durham.

A.D. 1034-1097.]

possessed by any Scottish sovereign. To him
also a code of laws has been attributed that
could only have been the giowth of a later
period. The manner of his death has also been
diversified by contending popular traditions
which Buchanan has severally specified. Ac-
cording to one of these he was assassinated by
the relations of a noble virgin whom he had
violated in his old age. According to another
he was kiUed in an ambush that had been laid
for him by some adherents of the former kings
Grim and Constantine. A third account, mca-e
popular than the rest, because more atrocious
and picturesque, represents him as perishing
by a conspiracy of his nobles. He had resumed,
we are gravely told, the rich gi-ants which he
had bestowed upon them with such rash liber-
ality at the Mote-hill of Perth, and so pillaged
them by extortions that they would endiu-e his

FROM DUNCAN TO EDGAE.

83

growing avarice no longer. Accordingly, having
corriipted some of his domestics, they murdered
him by night in his bed-chamber at Glammis in
Angus. It is added that the criminals, in en-
deavouring to escape, were so bewildered in
their flight by a heavy fall of snow, by which
the landmarks had become invisible, that they
got at unawares upon the frozen surface of a
loch, and that the ice suddenly giving way they
were all ingulfed and drowned. It was not till
the thaw had dissolved this treacherous shroud
of the traitors that their bodies were found,
which were forthwith hanged upon gibbets on
the highway. Amidst such an exorbitant va-
riety of deaths it is more reasonable to believe
that (as stated in the Register of St. Andrews)
this illustrious sovereign died the death of na-
ture and of old age, after an active and event-
ful reign of thii-ty years (1034).

CHAPTER II.

FROM ACCESSION OF DUNCAN TO ACCESSION OF EDGAR (1034-1097).

Reign of Duncan— His connection with England —Fictitious events of his reign — Account of Macbeth —
Duncan assassinated — Macbeth becomes king — His useful reign — His defeat and death — Malcolm 111.
surnamed Canmore succeeds — State of the kingdom at his accession — Circumstances in his favour —
Macduff rewarded— Malcolm's connection with Tostig, Earl of Northumberland — Arrival of Edgar Atheling
in Scotland — Marriage of Malcolm to the Princess Margaret — He invades England — William the Con-
Hueror invades Scotland — Character of Queen Margaret — Her piety and charities — Her attempts to civilize
the Scots- Her debate with the Culdees — Wars between Malcolm Canmore and William Rufus — Nature
of the Scottish homage to the English kings — Malcolm invades England — He is slain at Alnwick — His
character — Death of his queen — Donald Bane succeeds to the throne — His endeavours to restore the Celtic
ascendency — He is displaced by Duncan, son of Malcolm Canmore — Donald Bane recovers the throne by
Duncan's assassination — Donald Bane's unwise reign— He is again deposed— Edgar succeeds as king.

When Malcolm II. died he had neither a
brother to succeed him according to the Celtic
usage, nor yet a son who might immediately
occupy the throne according to the innovation
of Kenneth Macalpin. But, by his daughter
Bethoc, who had mamed Crinan, abbot of
Duukeld, at a time when priestly marriages
were neither unusual nor unlawfid, he had a
grandson, Duncan, who had been instiiUed Prince
of Cumberland as heir-apparent to the kingdom.
On the death of Malcolm, therefore, the sce])tre
came into the hand of Duncan as a regular and
undis|)utcd inheritance.

Of Dunciin's history while he ruled the prin-
cipality of Cumberland nothing can be a.scer-
tained. The position, however, whicli he tlius
lield while Dane and Saxon were at fierce war
with each other for the possession of England
gives probability to the report that he adhered

to the English side of the controversy, as he was
bound to do by the tenure of his possession,
although, from the troubled state of the country,
he was unable to repair to the King of England
and tender his allegiance in pei-son. Wlien
Canute the Great succeeded to the Englisli
crown he became the feudal superior of Duncan
in England; and as such he required the Prince
of Cumberland, now King of Scotland, to invade
Northumbria in support of the new Anglo-
Danish government. Duncan had no alter-
native but to obey; and a.d. 1035, the last year
of Canute's reign, he invaded Northumberland,
and laiil siege to the castle of Durham, from
wliicli he was driven, if we may believe the old
English historian,' with he;ivy loss and signal
defeat.

I Simeon of Durham.

84

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1034-1097.

After the death of Canute the Danish dynasty
was so firmly established for a sea-sou in Eng-
liiud that Duncan, a.s King of Scotland, liad no
further di.sturbauce from tliat quarter of the
island, and the re.s-t of hi.s .short reign appears to
have been passed in tranfjuiUity. But such an
unwonted lull was ii'ksome to oui- early hLstorians,
and they have filled up the unwelcome blank
with armies, actors, and achievements which
they seem to have conjured up at will. It was
indeed a season of weird sisters and incanta^
tions, and its very memory was contagious after
centuries had elapsed. According to these
legends there was war with jVIacdowal and his
islesmen, war with gaUogla-sses and kernes from
Ireland, and war with the Danes, while in every
change the master-spii'it of the storm was Mac-
beth, who quelled the elements when they were
at the wildest. In the last and most dangerous
of these commotions Sweyn, King of Norway,
had invaded Scotland, and all but made himself
master of the kingdom. In this strait the Scots
opened a negotiation in which they flattered the
enemy with fallacious hopes; and, to crown their
professions of good-wiU, they sent a bountiful
store of provisions, with plenty of wine and ale,
into the half-starved Norwegian camp, over
which the freebooters revelled with their
wonted largeness of appetite and habitual love
of good cheer. But the liquors had been trea-
cherously drugged with the narcotic night-
shade;' and at midnight there was a silence as
deep over the whole Norwegian army as over
the camp of Seunacherili. Thousands ha«l re-
velled and slept their last; they drank and died.
It was then that the Scottish troops under
Macbeth and Banquo came down upon the
invaders; and those who woke only fought with
a blind resistance, and were struck down like
deer crowded within the tinchel. As for
Sweyn, who was dead drunk, his more prudent
attendants, who were only half drunk, contrived
to lay him across a baggage-horse and cany
him to the shore, where their shipping had been
anchored ; but here they found their numbers
so few that they could scarcely man the single
vessel in which they escaped with their king. As

1 ".Saeno and his array, rejosing of this fonth of vittallis,
begun to waucht on thair maner, and to have experience
quha micht ingorKe thair waml>e with maiat voracite, quhil
at last the vennoum of thir beryia was akalit throw all partis
of thair bodyis; throw quhilk, thay war resolvit in ane
deidly sleip. "—Thus far Boece, who did not seem to think
that these Danes or Norwegians, so inured to the practice of
fraud themselves, might also be suspicious of a retaliation
in kind, and would not sn-ill so liberally without having
first tested the soundness of the liquors. But this djtiiculty
occurred to Buchanan, and therefore he is careful to tell
us that the bearers themselves partook liberally of the
liquids, and that after this example the enemy drank with-
out suspicion.

if enough had not been already done to secure
so discreditable a victory, Boece and Buchanan
then raise a stonn upon the unlucky fleet, by
which the ships were dashed against each other
until they were all wrecked upon that danger-
ous Vjank afterwards called the Drumlaw Sands.

But leaving these romantic fictions, and even
the prophecies that welcomed the victors upon
"the blasted heath" — events which were copied
from the Scottish into the English histories, and
invested by Sliakspere with a power that
makes historical reality shrink before it like a
mendacious culprit — we gladly turn to those
few intelligible incidents upon which this gor-
geous but airy supersti-ucture has been based.
And here we find that Macbeth, although so
deeply branded by the poet as a usui-per tliat
no skOl can remove the stigma of that terrible
Vjrandiug iron, can yet be spoken of with some
extenuation. According to all Celtic reckoning
he had injuries to avenge as well as pretensions
to maintain, that might make him look upon
Duncan as an enemy and supplanter. His wife
Gruoch was the granddaughter of Kenneth IV.,
who lost life and crown in his contest with
Malcolm II. Her brother had been murdered
by order of the same Malcolm, who feared his
pretensions to the crown. Her first husband Gil-
comgain, Mormaor of Moray, liad been burned
within his castle, with fifty of his adherents,
while she herself was obliged to fly with her
infant son Lulach. Thu.s, in marrying the lady
Gruoch, Machieth also espoused the injuries she
had received from the reigning dynasty, as well
as whatever pretensions her family may have
enjoyed through their descent from Kenneth IV.
But if it he true that he was himself connected
also with royalty, and that his mother was
Doada or Doaca, a daughter of Malcolm II., he
may have thought, and not extravagantly, that
his own claims to the crown were at least as
strong as those of his cousLo Duncan, also the
grandson of the same king by a female descent.
Upon the strength of the Tanist law, and amidst
its perplexing complications, we find royal suc-
cessions effected among the kings of Scotland
apparently upon no better guarantee.

In this way we can perceive that Macbeth
needed no weird women to incite him in his
attempt to become king. In the seclusion of
his bed-chamber were woman's complaints of
wrong and suffering; within his own bosom
there were the whispers of ambition; and these
were enough to embody themselves into the
welcome, "All had, king that shall be." The
means to realize this promise were not likely to
be of scrupulous selection, and tlie revolt of
another cousin of Duncan furnished the oppor-
tunity. This was Thorfin, Mormaor or Earl of

FROM DUXCA^T TO EDGAR

Caithness, who refoaed to par the tribate which
he owed to the Scottish crown, and against
whom Duncan marched to reduce him to obed-
ience. But the king's progies northward was
amated near Elgin, and he was slain at a place
called Bothgowanan, or the " smith's dwellin<r.~
hf miiimlii I in the employ of Macbeth.' Thus
periabed ^ the pore-breathed Duncan" as he is
called by the Celtic bard, the ~gracioas Doncan "
as he is termed by the poet of all time, after a
■hart reign of six years.

The late sovereign left two sons, Malcolm and
Donal<i Bane, of whom the eldest had been de-
signated lus successor by the usual investiture
of the title of Prince of Cumberland ; but the
youns princes were still in early boyhood, and
their safety rather than their royal succe^on
was the chief subject of consideration. Ac-
cordingly Malcolm, on the death of his father,
flal to Cumberland, and Djnald Bane to the
Hebrides, while Macbeth marched unopposed
to the throne, and was crowned at Scone upon
the marble chair of destiny in the year 1037.
If be must still be accounted a usurper of
royalty he was a moet beneficent one, and die
old chronicles are filled with descriptioDs of the
peace and prosperity that abounded in ScotLuid
during the greater part of his reign. With
this, indeed, the people were so well satisfied
that they made no movement in behalf of the
family of Duncan, so that the aid by which they
wete restored was derived from aliens and
eiiemie& Macbeth was also devout according to
the fashion of the times; and either to signalize
his piety or soothe his remorse he made a pil-
grimage to Rome, at that time the resource of
r^al and princely offenders, and of which Canute
the Great bad lately taken full benefit as well
as KTeral of the -Anglo.Saxon sovereigns of
England. Even in a political point of view,
therefore, this devout journey of M-icbeth may
have been expedient as a full proclamation to
Europe of his unquestioned and unquestionable
■OTereignty.^

Bat a proeperona and tranqufl reign of seven-
teen years only diversified by a commonplace
journey to Rome and back again — this was not
enough for our historians of the middle ages;
and having adopted Macbeth as a romantic

85

I wfaidi ahakipcfc bMtodrk.
■alkallr fBteedwad tm ikt ■■iirinill not Docaa wen
nln>««<l ttam Boccc's tama% at the mmIimIIiiii oI Kii«
I>i«bTDoacnU.I(inla<iliecMtIeo(Pa(na. Thocemr
paiM it n^rHiil ctcb to the hrtorirattoii at the poor
cnoM), aad Ike amacr la wkkh tber mc ^Hle to ■pfien'
■■ O* gaSty acton a< the dMd— See Boece'i Onuelo ^
5lle»<tT—l«tiill»rBenaMlta.n>l.apL«g. Edia. un.

' BoTcdea aad aaMOB of Daifeaa iirfona ae that ^ D. I06<K
"Jbs ScHim, MadLtlad, Bttmm arjnlm ifmrtnda tit-
aothiac BMin

personage, they gathered round him the events
that were fittest for such a character, as it was
at that time understood. Thus, though his
mother was a lady of rank and lineage, his
bther was no other than a demon who had
seiinced her by hL) blandishments and who at
his birth predicted for this wondrous babe all
the equivocal advantages which Shakspere has
only transferred to the cavern of Hecate. His
seat was to be secure until Bimam Wood came
to the hill of Dunsinane, and his body to be
impervious to every weapon wielded by the
hand of any one bom of woman. Having thus
laid the groundwork of the plot, it was easy to
expand the few particulars of bis after reign
into voluminous form, and season them with a
due amount of the supernatural — which they
have done accordingly. Our task, and it is no
easy one, is to reduce all this amplification to
its primitive and scanty elements.

By the death of Duncan, irrespective of its
cause, Macbeth, in consequence of his being
nearest in relationship to the deceased king,
succeeded by old estaljli.--hed usage to the king-
dom: while Malcolm, the eldest son of Duncan,
being still a minor, cotdd advance no claim to
the throne until the reign of Macbeth was ended.
But Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland, was little
likely to respect a law which of late Lad been
so rudely thrust aside: and Siward, Earl of
Northumberland, whose sister was mother of
Malcolm, could not be supposed to sympathize
with an order of succession so much at variance
with the rest of Europe, and by which his own
nephew was unthroned and an exile. Malcolm,
therefore, when he had grown towards manho-jd
at the Xorthumbrian court, found in Siward a
willing as well as powerful ally to assert his
claims to the crown of Scotland, and nothing
was wanting but the favourable moment of
onset That, too, we are told, was afforded by
the opportune arrival of Macduff at the court
of Northumberland, whose wrongs, and the in-
ducements with which he endeavoured to rouse
the apparently reluctant Malcolm, as detaUed
in the wondrous drama, are to be found at great
length in the pages of Boece. Siward the
Strong, the hero of Northumbrian romance, who
split a rock of granite asunder with a blow

than that Macbeth tent memij to Bone— peiha|)o ai aa ex-
piatioB or a bribe Bat the itatf eat nther ImpUn that
the kia« vaa then in pemo. Of hi* boantr la thia pO-
tTliimi . aba, we bare the foDowiaf tttntatfcia ttam
Wjntovn:—

"Qohen Fape waa Leo the Xjat ia Bone,

Aa pOcnraw to the eoait he coow:

And in hia abaa lie acB cDrer

Tm al par tdk. that had mjiter (ie. necdl

la al tyaie orrit he to w^rk

Pratetabillr (or halj kyifc. *

86

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1034-1097.

of his battle-axe, and who thought that for a
warrior to die otherwise than on his legs and
in full panoply was to die the death of a cow,
advaueed with a powerful army of his own re-
taiuei-s into Scotland to vindicate the claims of
his nephew. This invasion occurred in 1054;
but the nobles and people, instead of flying from
Macbeth, seem to have rallied round him, and
fought bravely in his cause. A battle ensued in
the neighbourhood of Duusinane HUl ; and al-
though Macbeth was defeated, the war was not
yet ended. It was there that Siward lost his
eldest son Osberne, and refrained from lamen-
tation when he was told that all the young
warrior's wounds were in front. The earl was
soon recalled to England, and thus the conduct
of the war was left to Malcolm, who found in
Macbeth an able and dangerous antagonist.
After his defeat at Dunsinane the latter retired
to the fastnesses of the north, and contrived to
protract the war nearly two years longer, until
he was brought to bay and slain in a desperate
conflict at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire. Tra-
dition relates, that here also a son of Macbeth
died fighting by his father's side; and the same
authority attributes the death-stroke of the
brave usurper to the hand of the injured
Macduff.

On the fall of Macbeth the Scots, instead of
repairing to the standard of the victoi-ious Mal-
colm, continued their resistance, and proclaimed
Lidach, the stepson of Macbeth, king. It was
not wonderful that such .should have been the
case, when we remember that this contest for
the royal succession was not a civil war but a
foreign invasion, and that Malcolm's cause was
supported by the Anglo-Danes of Northumber-
land, the deadliest enemies of the Scots. As for
Lulach, who was the great-grandson of Kenneth
IV., his claims to the throne would be unintel-
ligible without a fuU understanding of the com-
plexities of a Celtic pedigree ; yet, ti'ied by the
Tanist rule, they appear to have been con-
sidered more valid than those of Malcolm him-
self. But Lulach, whose name signifies a "Fool,"
was no match for his energetic rival, backed by
the Danish battle-axes of his Northumbrian
auxiliaries ; and after a short reign of continual
struggle that lasted only a few months his
career was terminated by defeat and death in a
conflict with Malcolm at Essie in Strathbogie.
The date of this battle is given as the 3d of
April, 1057; and Malcolm, now without a rival,
ascended the throne of Scotland.

This most distinguished of our early Scottish
sovereigns, with whose reign the history of the
country is reckoned properly to commence, on
account of the darkness and uncertainty of its
previous annals, is better known under his

Celtic appellation of Malcolm Canmore {caen
moki; signifying a large head) than his title of
Malcolm III. And seldom indeed has large
intellect, which the appellation probably signi-
fied, or stout heart and warlike arm, which he
undoubtedly possessed, been more required for
the king of a barbarous age and a disunited
discordant peojile. Looking at the subjects
over whom he was called to rule, he was indeed
at his accession a " king of shreds and patches."
For independently of that congeries of tribes
composed of Scots and Picts who constituted
the earlier population of Scotland, there were
the Britons of Cumbria and Strathclyde, the
Danes from Ireland and the Baltic, the Anglo-
Saxons of Lothian, and the " wild Scots of
Galloway" — men differing in lineage, in speech,
in character, and modes of life ; differing in the
terms of their admission into the country; and
diftering in the terms of submission which they
owed to its royal authority, and even the posi-
tive hostility with which they were ready to op-
pose it ; and these, if possible, had to be united
into one nation and reduced to a common rule.
No ordinary conjunction of favourable circum-
stances was needed for a king so situated. But
these cu-cumstances also in an eminent degree
were combined in favom' of Malcolm Canmore.
By descent he was Saxon as well as Celtic, and
therefore a representative of the two great races
who now comprised the chief population of
Scotland. His training among the Northum-
brians had familiarized him to a higher style of
civilization than he could have learned in his
own country, as well as taught him those "sweet
uses of adversity" which princes in exile have
such ample means of acquiring. Judging from
the probable period of his birth and the terms
of his expatriation, he must have been at least
thirty years old at the time of his accession,
and therefore not a mere pupil in tlie arts of
government. He came to the throne a success-
ful conqueror, after having triumphed over an
able and powerful rival; and this, irrespective
of any question of right, wUl always be attrac-
tive with a rude and warlike people. Most
opportunely ;ilso it happened for Malcolm III.
and his dl-assorted people, that whereas a con-
test with England, so much more powerful
than themselves, and with which they were
now in such close and emulous contact, might
have crushed them at the very outset of their
political existence, this latter power had too
many troubles and grievances of its own to
interfere with the progress of Scotland. The
dissensions between Edward the Confessor and
the Godwin family, the disputed succession of
Harold, and finally the Norman conquest of
England, disunited and weakened that rival

A.D. 1034-1097.]

FEOM DUNCAN TO EDGAE.

87

power against which, if united, even Malcolm
Canmore could scarcely have made head. Thus
the new Scottish king, able, vigoroiis, well-
trained, and having on his side the prestige
of a successful warrior, succeeded to the crown
under circumstances and at a period when his
great qualities could be best exercised for the
consolidation of his people and extension of his
kingdom.

One of Malcolm's first duties was to rewaid
that Scottish adherent by whom he had been
so ably assisted in recovering his patrimonial
rights. This was Macdutf, the ilormaor of Fife,
who had first repaired to Malcolm in England
and afterwards joined him with his vassals in
Scotland; but instead of accepting a pi-ofitable
return in grants of crown lands or pensions,
Macduff contented himself wth honourable dis-
tinctions which were fi-eely accorded by the
new sovereign. Tliese were that he and his
successors, the lords of Fife, should have tlie
right of placing the King of Scotland on the
throne at their coronation ; that they should
lead the van of the Scottish ai-mies whenever
the royal banner was displaj'ed ; and that he
or any of his kin committing unpremeditated
slaughter should have a pecidiar right of sanc-
tuary and remission of punishment by the pay-
ment of a fine.'

During four years after the accession of
Malcolm a strict peace was maintained with
England — a measure which gratitude as well
as policy must have dictated to the Scottish
king. He had also conceived such a strong
friendship for Tostig, the brother of Harold,
who had become earl or governor of Northum-
berland about the time of his own succession to
the throne of Scotland, that they were com-
monly called the sworn brothers.^ But in 1061
tliis brotherhood had come to an end, and
Malcolm invaded Northumberland, wasted the
country, and " violated the peace of St. Cuth-
bert"' — a sacred compact which seems to have
been made between the two chiefs over the
relics of the saint in the island of Lindisfarne.
With which of the parties the demerit of break-
ing this sacred alliance rested we are not
informed ; but the profligate and imperious
cliaracter of Tostig, for which he was finally
banished by the Northumbrians, makes it pro-
bable that in this case the earl and not the king
was the offender.

Rashly prosecuted as this quarrel seems to
have been on the part of Malcolm, by an inva-
sion that might have involved his kingdom in

> Called Macduff's Law by Fordun, in whose time it was
still extant. Fordun, lib. v. cap. 9. See also Hailes' Ammls
(^ ScollancI, vol. I. p. 4. Ediu. 1797.

» Simeon oj Durham. > Idem.

a dangerous war, his renewal of friendship with
the unprincipled Tostig was more culpable and
impolitic still. This earl, burning with resent-
ment against the Northumbrians who had cast
him off', and against his own brother Harold,
now King of England, who refused to uphold
his cause against the just resentment of the
men of Northumberland, resolved to take ven-
geance upon all alike by becoming a traitor and
an enemy to his native country; and with this
view he went successively to the courts of Flan-
dere, Normandy, Denmark, and Nonvay, to
stir them up to an invasion of England and the
deposition of its king. Having obtained a few
ships he attempted a descent upon England in
the fashion of the northern sea-kings, but was
driven from every point at which he attempted
a landing; and at length, compelled by ex-
tremity and the hopele.ssness of his enterprise,
he came with only twelve small vessels to Scot-
land. Malcolm received the unnatural rebel
with welcome, or at least permitted him to
anchor unmolested and remain a whole summer
in the country. From Scotland Tostig repaired
to Norway, whose king, Hai-drada, he pei-suaded
to invade England at the time when William
of Normandy was making preparations for its
entire conquest. Haidrada and his ally in the
course of their expedition touched at the Ork-
neys, where they were largely reinforced bj' the
Norwegian pirates of these islands ; but by this
time it appeare that the alliance between Mal-
colm and Earl Tostig had terminated, as the
Scottish king did not embrace the tempting
opportunity of joining such a formidable inva-
sion. And it was fortunate for himself and his
people that he thus abstained ; for on their land-
ing in England the Norwegian king and North-
umbrian earl were totally defeated at the battle
of Stamford Bridge, and slain, with neaily all
their followers.

Events now went onward, the inevitable
result of which was to bring England and
Scotland into close contact and even hostile
collision. Only three days after the battle of
Stamfoid Bridge, William of Normandy landed
in England, and the battle of Hastings was
fought, by which his way was opened to the
English throne. During the progiess of this
Norman conquest the English sought for a
leader among their own native princes ; but in
their sad extremity their choice was limited to
Edgar Atheling, son of Eilmund the Outlaw,
and grandson of Edmund Ironside. Few, in-
deed, were the men who could have been found
less fitted for the sacred office of a national
champion and liberator; for besides his indif-
ference to freedom, he was a contented follower
in the train of the Norman despot, and his

88

HISTORY OF SCOTLAJSTD.

[a.d. 1034-1097.

early life, which had been spent in exile in
Hungary, had not only denationalized his feel-
ings, but blunted him to the sense of what was
due to his own royal ancestry. But his name
at least was something, and it was eagerly
secured by Marlswine, Cospatric, and other
Northumbrian nobles, who were disgusted with
the tyranny of the Conqueror; and when they
found then- cause hopeless they fled for protec-
tion to Malcolm Canmore, carrying with them
Edgar Atheling, his mother Agatha, and his
two sisters, Margaret and Christina. This,
though the most important, was not the first
influx of English exiles whom the Conquest
had driven into Scotland; for even already
several Anglo-Danish and Anglo-Saxon nobles
had found a home from Malcolm, and had en-
couraged their sufl'eruig countrymen in Eng-
land by reports of his liberality. Malcolm
received the illustrious fugitives of the line of
Alfred with welcome, lodged them in his castle
of Dunfermline, and finding Margaret young
and beautiful, he soon took her to wife. The
precise date of this impoi-tant union is uncer-
tain, but it appears to have been about a.d.
1067 or 1068. By this marriage the English
nobles might hope to find in the Scottish king
an assui-ed protector as well as a willing avenger.
Malcolm on his part may have hoped, from the
example afforded by the history of Kenneth
Macalpin, that this marriage might finally
blend the royal lines of England and Scotland
into one, and entail upon his race the sove-
reignty of the whole island.

The union of the Scottish king with the
EugUsh princess was the signal of fresh iusm--
rections against the Norman conqueror; and,
instigated by the exiles at the Scottish court,
the Northumbrians rose against the garrisons
of then- oppressors and put them to the sword.
In the year 1069 a fleet of Danes, who stiU
remembered their old alliance with the Dane-
lagh, ascended the Humber to act in con-
cert with their kinsmen of Northumberland.
It was a formidable but heterogeneous arma-
ment, like that with which William himself
had efi'ected the conquest of England; for it
consisted of 240 ships, manned not only by
Danes and Holsteiners, but by Frisians, Saxons,
Poles, and the roving adventurers of every
country whose trade was war, and whose only
pay was plunder. The inhabitants of North-
umberland and Yorkshire joined them ; and to
their united encampment repaired from Scotland
Edgai- Atheling, Mai-lswine, Cospatric, Wal-
theof, the son of Siward, and cousin of Malcolm
Canmore, and many other English nobles, all
elate in the foreign aid that had an-ived, and
hopeful of liberty and revenge. Their first

attack was upon the city of York, which they
took by storm, and inflicted such slaughter upon
its Norman garrison as had not been paralleled
since the battle of Hastings. But after such a
signal commencement nothing more was at-
tempted ; and this singular inactivity has been
attributed to the non-appearance of Malcolm
Canmore, who was to have acted in concert
with the Danes and Northimibrians. For this
failure his memory has been severely blamed ;
but it may have originated either in his
ignorance of the ai-rival of the Danes or his
iuabihty to collect a sufficient military force
when the season for action had arrived. At all
events, the opportunity for the recovery of
England was utterly lost. In the meantime
William broke up this coalition with his
wonted activity and success. He first bought
off the Danish commander, who withdrew his
fleet and army, and won over Cospatric by the
promise of the earldom of Northumberland,
while Edgar and the rest of his adherents,
dismayed at these instances of treachery, aban-
doned the Northumbrians to the vengeance of
the Conqueror and fled once more to Scotland.
At length Malcolm was in readiness to act
when the fit time for action had passed away.
In 1070 he entered England by the western
border through Cumberland, laid waste the
district of Teesdale, and, dispersing a small
array that opposed his jirogress at Hunder-
skelde, near the Derwent, he advanced into
Cleveland, apparently hoping stiU to find his
allies upon the east coast. But learning of
their dispereion, he proceeded to turn the war
to his own account by acting as a hostile in-
vader. He accordingly proceeded through the
eastern parts of the bishopric of Durham,
marking his progress with fire and sword, in
which neither church nor sanctuary was spared;
and on learning that the traitor Cospatric was
wasting his own district of Cumberland in
the service of the Norman he increased the
severity of his measures by at fii-st ordering
no quarter to be given to either age or sex.
These merciless orders were as mercilessly
executed ; they were too much in accordance
with the usages of war, both Saxon and Nor-
man, to excite much surprise, and he after-
wards signalized his clemency by ordering that
the young men and maidens should only be
cai'ried away into bondage instead of being put
to death. So gi-eat was the number of prisoners
on this occasion, that for many year's after an
English bondman or bondwoman was to be
found, as we are assured by Simeon of Dm-ham,
not only in every village but even every hovel
of Scotland. But here the miseries of devoted
Northumberland did not terminate. To chas-

A.D. 1034-1097.]

FEOM DUNCAN TO EDGAE.

89

tise its revolt William the Conqueror visited it
with a more formidable army than that of
Malcolm, and wasted it with such havoc that
the visit of the Scots was light in comparison.
A terrible famine was the natui'al consequence,
which inflicted still gi-eater evO than the sword.
The defeated Enghsh fled across the border into
Scotland, which was now regarded as the asylum
of the oppressed Englishman and discontented
Norman ; the hunger-worn peasantry who had
stiU the means of flight, imitated the example ;
and many who had lost their all were fain to
sell themselves, their wives, and their children
as slaves at the hour of their extremity, and
when no other aid remained.

After William had taken full vengeance upon
the Northumbrians his next thought was of re-
prisals upon Scotland; and a.d. 1072 he invaded
it by land, while a fleet followed to co-operate
by sea. What were his military operations
during this campaign we are not informed; but
as it was the most formidable invasion which
the country had as yet sustained, we are war-
ranted by this silence in concluding that Mal-
colm gave place to the storm which he could
not resist, and allowed the Noi-man chivahy to
waste their valour upon the barren heaths and
mountains of his frontier.^ Supported, however,
by his fleet, WiUiam was able to maintain his
ground so long that Malcolm at last consented
to a treat)-, which, we are told, was made at
Abernethy .- Thither the King of Scotland came
to the Norman sovereign, and there gave host-
ages, and did homage to William — but for tlie
lands he held in England, as Fordun is careful
to inform us,' upon the authoritj- of Vincentius.
Malcolm, however, was the losing party by the
expedition, as it was probably about this time
that William took Cumberland into his own pos-
session, and bestowed it as a military fief upon
Kenouf (or Eanulf) Meschines, who thereby be-

i "Here King William led ship-force and land-force to
Scotland, and that land on the sea-half with ships belea-
guered, and his land-force at the ford (Gewaede) led in, and
he there notujht found that to him the better icae." This
passage from the Saxon Chronicle has been supposed by
some writers to intimate a complete conquest of the coun-
try ; but such a conquest without one battle at least is too
unreasonable for ordinary belief. It is more natural to
suppose that when William found nothing "that to him the
better was." the phrase means that the expedition w.is a
most unprofitable one— that it supplied neither plunder
nor provisions.

' From the impolitic character of the route which must
have led William into such gratuitous ilanger. it is supposed
that the English chroniclers have mistaken the name of the
place, and that it was at Berwick rather than Abernethy
that the treaty was made on this occasion, while Chalmers
supposes that the Abemithi in question was the mouth of
the Nith in Dumfriesshire.

* Anno millesimo geptuagesimo secundo, Willelmus Bas-
tard Scotiani intravit. cui occurrens rei Malcolraus, in loco
qui dicitur Abimethy, homo suus devenit pro (<rr« in An-
glia.

VOL. I.

came the first earl of Cumberland. In this way
a debatable ground was created for the future
wars between England and Scotland. William
also removed Cospatric from the government of
Northumberland, imder a suspicion that he had
encouraged the late rebellion in that quarter.
This noble, on being thus bereaved of the price
of his treachery, fled once more to Scotland, and
was received into favour by Malcolm whom he
had betrayed, and who admitted him once more
into his confidence. This trust, and the lauds
with which Cospatric was richly endowed in
Scotland, rivetted his wavering fidelity at last,
and he became the ancestor of the earls of
Maich, that powerful family who, from the
possession of Dunbar, were said to have the keys
of Scotland at their belt. On his return to Eng-
land William also ordered the castle of Durham
to be fortified as a barrier against futm-e Scot-
tish ini'oads. As for Edgar Atheling, the osten-
sible cause of the war, and of whom such hopes
had been formed that he had obtained the title
of " England's darling," his utter imbecility was
such a complete defence that the Conqueror made
no attempt to dislodge him from the hospitable
shelter of the Scottish court. Edgar, however,
probably weary of its rude simplicity, returned
to England in the following year, and made his
peace with William, into whose hands he sur-
rendered aU his claims and rights, for which he
obtained in return a daily allowance of a poimd
of silver. In this way the descendant of Alfred,
and heir of his toils and victories, sold his buth-
right for a mess of pottage, and stooped to the
crumbs that fell from the rich man's table !

From this picture it is pleasing to turn to the
noble character of his sister Margaret, the wife
of Malcolm Canmore, who was so fortunate in
that rude age as to find a faithful biographer in
her chapkiin Turgot. To her, indeed, he was
what -Asser had been to Alfred ; and fi'om his
narrative, written in Latin, we have a full ac-
count of the private life of Margaret and her
husband. In the proceedings of Malcolm him-
self we perceive that, although wise, clement,
and magnanimous, he was still a barbarian; but,
from her sage counsels and gentle conduct, his
lion-like ferocity was tamed, and he even learned
from her example, as the monk informs us, to
pass the night frequently in prayer, and to sup-
])licate with groans and teai-s. " I confess," he
adds, " that I have often marvelled at the won-
derful mercy of God, when I beheld a king so
devout, and such signs of deep penitence in a
layman." Notwithstanding his educiition in
England, Malcolm was unable to read ; but he
loved her prayer-books and favourite volumes,
often turned them over and kissed them, and
caused them to be adorned with gold and pre-

90

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1034-1097.

cious stones. Some of her works of charity,
while tliey evince her ardent benevolence, also
indicate the monastic instruction by which they
had been trained and directed. For every day
she washed the feet of six of the poorest people,
and dried and kissed them. She maintained
nine orphans, and upon her knees she fed them
out of her own hands. She had a custom to
treat three hundred poor persons in a hall of
her palace, when, on the doors being shut, she
and her husband served the guests on either
side of the table, and supplied them with food.
These deeds, which in modern times might sa-
vour of fanaticism or ostentation, were at such a
period considered only the natui-al expressions
of a devout aflfectionate spirit, and as such were
pi-aotised without a sense of degradation. Other
charities of Margaret, howevei', were of a more
queenly and useful character. All superfluity
in her ornaments, dress, and expenses of the
table were curtailed, that the produce might be
given to the poor. She even sent privately
among the towns and provinces to discover
those who were in extreme want, and especially
such as had formerly been in a better rank of
life, and to hear of them was to send them relief.
When she understood, also, that any of the
English were detained as prisonei-s of war in
Scotland, she paid their ransom and sent them
home. " As the queen of the bees," says one of
her eulogists, "has but very short wings, so she
strays not far from the hive, our princess except
for necessity and divertisement, which she was
obliged to take for her health, went seldom
abroad. And if she chanced at any time to go
out about the affairs of the kingdom or her devo-
tions, a troop of widows and orphans circled her
on all sides as their common mother: she heard
them with incomparable sweetness, and per-
mitted none to go away empty-handed."'

In her domestic life, Margaret, as a mother
and a queen, was a pattern for every age and
country. She carefully educated her children,
drew up precejjis in wi-iting for their moral
conduct, and ordered their preceptors to chas-
tise them as often as they merited punishment.
Even in her dying moments they were her
chief concern, and she bequeathed the charge
of their sjiiritual instruction to her confessor in
language which few mothers could read un-
moved.^ In her household she entertained many
ladies about her person whose leisure hours were

^ The Idea of a Perfect Princess in the Life of St. Mar-
garet, Queen of Scotland, &c. Paris, 1661.

2 After a discourse on her spiritual state she said to
Turgot : " Farewell ; my life draws to a close, but you nray
survive me long. To you I commit the charge of my chil-
dren ; teach them above all tilings to love and fear God ;
and whenever you see any of them attain to the height of
earthly grandeur, oh I then, in an especial manner be to

chiefly employed in needlework, and such was
the strict decorum she maintained that '• in her
presence notliing unseemly was ever done or
uttered." As an English princess also Margai'et
must have felt the rude contrast of the Scottish
court and its barbarous chieftainry, and seen
that to civilize her husband's subjects it was
necessary to commence the reformation at the
fountain-head. It was easy, therefore, to per-
suade Malcolm, whose sentiments accorded with
her own, to appear in public with the command-
ing insignia of royalty, to enlarge and improve
his retinue, and give frequent banquets to his
nobles, where they would have an opportunity
of learning the superior festive refinements of
those distinguished Norman and Saxon refugees
who had sought the asylum of the palace of
Dunfermline. At these banquets also she caused
the king to be served at table in gold and silver
plate — '■ at least," says the historian, putting a
check on his enthusiasm, " the dishes and ves-
sels were gilt or silvered over." And as one of
the fu-st as well as most important steps in the
civilization of a community originates in the
desire of better clothing and more becoming
ornaments. Queen Margaret not only dressed
gracefully and richly, but faciUtated the means
of imitation to her court and peoj^le by en-
couraging the foreign merchants to adventure
into Scotland with their tempting ware. They
came, accordingly, with such rich commodities
as the Scots had never seen before, so that
when they attired themselves in these strange
imjjortations, they seemed, says the chi'onicler,
to " have become new men."

From the devout character of the queen,
modelled as it was upon the rule of Eome,
which could tolerate no observances but its
o'mi, Margaret, at her firet entrance into Scot-
land, must have been startled at the nakedness
of the Culdee form of worship, so unlike the
gorgeous ritual to which she had been accus-
tomed. But still more grievous oflfences, in her
eyes, belonged to it, the chief of which was the
period of the celebration of Easter, in which
the Culdees, as we have already seen, followed
the computation of the Eastern rather than the
Western Church. This to Margaret must have
appeared 'a spu'itual rebellion and downright
heresy, more especially as the violent contro-
versy which it had stirred up in England was
still of notable remembrance. To suppress,

them as a father and a guide. Admonish, and if need be,
reprove them, lest they be swelled with the pride of mo-
mentary glory, tlu"ough avarice offend God, or by reason
of the prosperity of this world become careless of eternal
life. This, in the presence of HIM who is now our only
witness, I beseech you to promise and to perform."— Trans-
lated in Hailes's Annals, vol. i. p. 47.

.D. 1034-1097.]

FROM DUNCAN TO EDGAE.

91

\

therefore, what she honestly considered a soul-
destroying error, but to suppress it by the
gentle ■weapons of argument and persuasion,
was her chief aim. And indeed .she was better
fitted than most women of the age for so diffi-
cult a task ; for indejiendently of the unlimited
power which her husband seems to have allowed
her in the management of the Scottish chiu-ch,
and the ascendency of her own amiable cha-
racter, she was both learned and eloquent, being
able to read the Scriptures in the Vulgate as
well as a priest, and illustrate them with fluency
and power. "Often," says Turgot, "have I with
admiration heard her discourse on subtle ques-
tions of theology in presence of the most learned
men of the kingdom." A public controversy
upon the Easter question was therefore inevit-
able, and the Scottish clergy were invited into
the lists to debate the subject with the queen.
There was a difficulty iudeed in the case which
might have checked an ordinary controverey
at the outset or adjourned it to an indefinite
period ; for while Margaret was ignorant of the
Gaelic language, the priests could speak no
other. But the king, who could speak both
Saxon and Gaelic, acted as intopreter between
the parties, and thus the difficulty was sur-
mounted. "Three days," continues Turgot, "did
she employ the sword of the Spirit in combating
their errors; she seemed another St. Helena,
out of the Scriptures convincing the Jews."
Against such a disputant, aided by such an in-
terpreter, the issue could scarcely be doubtful;
and the monk informs us that the Scottish
priests, overcome by the arguments of reason
and truth, abandoned their erroneous usage and
observed Lent according to the Catholic insti-
tution. In recording the history of this stiange
debate we cannot help thinking of a similar
convocation held at Hampton Court by a royal
descendant of Malcolm and Margaret, more
than five. centuries afterwards, when the ques-
tion was not about Easter, but clerical gowns,
tippets, and episcopal ordination ; and how dif-
ferently royal courtesy and discretion were
manifested on that occasion by James VI., the
Solomon of his age ! On account of their zeal
for religion and the panegyrics they have re-
ceived from the clergy it might be supposed
that Malcolm and his queen must have sig-
nalized their piety, according to the universal
fashion of the period, by rich gifts and endow-
ments to the church; but except in certain
moderate donations to the Benedictines of Dun-
fermline anil the Culdees of Fife no trace of
this kind of liberality can be discovered in their
history. The king may have found the royal
demesnes not more than sufficient for the en-
dowment of those exiles whose families were to

become the nobles of Scotland ; and as for Mar-
garet, the honour of saintship which she ob-
tained from her church was won by the puiity
of her character, not purchased with broad
lands and rich offerings.

Reluctantly abandoning such an alluring
oasis of green pastures and still waters, we
pass fiom the life of this mother of her people
to those politicjil events in which her husband
and the nation were involved. Seven years of
tranquillity had passed in Scotland since the
invasion of William in 1072, and from the fore-
going account we can judge how the interval
was employed upon the internal affairs of the
kingdom. But in 1079, while the Conqueror
was waning in Normandy against his unnatural
son Robert, Malcolm embraced the opportunity
of once more invading England. Of the causes
of this inroad we are not informed, but perhaps
the resumption of Cumberland to the English
crown was the chief. The histoiy of this expe-
dition, which was carried into Northumberland
as far as the Tyne, is briefly dismissed by an
old historian, who tells us that Malcolm slew
many, captured more, and returned with much
plunder.' William, who had ended his war in
Normandy and returned to England, sent his
son Robert, to whom he had been reconcOed,
into Scotland on the following year to revenge
the insult. But Robert, although as brave a
soldier as his father, had neither his actiWty
nor his pradence ; and after an inglorious cam-
paign, in which he is supposed to have advanced
as far as the place where Falkirk now stands
without finding an enemy to encounter, he re-
turned to England without a battle and with-
out honour. All, indeed, that he seems to have
eflFected was to erect in his retreat a fortress
near the Tyne, to repress the invasions of the
Scots, which was afterwards called Newcastle.

After this another interval occurred, in which
Scottish history is a blank. By the de.ath of
William the Conqueror, a.d. 1087, Malcolm was
freed from a most dangerous antagonist ; but he
gained another more quarrelsomestill in William
surnamed Eufus, the second son of the Con-
queror, who succeeded to the throne of England.
At first, however, mattera went on smoothly,
for the new king rele.ased a son of Slalcolm,
who appears to have been held as a hostage in
England, and conferred upon him the honour
of knighthood. But Rufus still kept possession
of Cumberland, and, in addition to this old in-
jury, he is supposed to have withheld certain
other lauds in England to which Malcolm Can-
more had a claim. A fit season for retribution
aiTived on the absence of Rufus in Noi-mandv,

92

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1034-1097.

and in May, a.d. 1091, Malcolm led an army
into England ; but when he had penetrated as
far as Chester-le-Street between Newcastle and
Durham, he learned that an English army was
mustered to oppose him, upon which he pru-
dently retreated homeward. Three months
after this inroad Eufus arrived in England,
with his brother Kobert, Duke of Normandy,
and prepared to invade Scotland, as his father
had done, both by land and sea. Although his
ships were blown off the coast and dispersed
by a storm he still pi-essed forward, losing
many of his horses by hunger and cold in his
march. Malcolm advanced to meet him as far
as " Lothian in England," says the Saxon
Chronicle — but as Lothian already belonged
to Scotland, some other place within the Eng-
lish territory of a similar name (perhaps Lothere,
now Lowther) must have been the halting-place
of Malcolm. No conflict, however, occurred, as
Robert of Normandy, who was in the English
camp, and Edgar Atheling, who had for a short
time been in Scotland, mediated successfully
between the contending sovereigns. The result
was an agreement by which Malcolm rendered
to Rufus the usual homage of the Scottish kings;
while the latter restored twelve mauore in Eng-
land which Malcolm had held under the Con-
queror, and agreed to pay him annually twelve
marks of gold. They parted in mutual peace,
which, however, was not to be lasting, for a.d.
1092 William Rufus erected a castle at Carlisle
to serve as an additional barrier against Scottish
incursions, but which Malcolm regarded as an
infringement upon his rights in the district of
Cumberland. His remonstrances appear to have
been backed by the Norman nobles of England,
who were too busily employed in securing their
new possessions to covet an unprofitable war
with Scotland. The two kings accordingly met
at Gloucester to adjust the quarrel by negotia-
tion. Here, however, the imperious chai'acter
of Rufus broke out, for he required Malcolm at
this place, and in presence of the English barons,
to render the usual homage ; but this the Scot-
tish king refused to do except upon the common
frontier, and in presence of the nobility of both
kingdoms, accordiug to the fashion which had
been hitherto observed. This makes it evident
that the homage in question, which afterwards
produced such deadly wars, and finally so much
literary controversy, was merely for territories
held in England, and not for the kingdom of
Scotland itself, as in the latter case the Scottish
nobles would only have been rere- vassals to the
English king, and therefore disqualified to sit
in court with the chief lords of his crown. It
would have been in vain, therefore, for Malcolm
Canmore to have pleaded former usage as the

ground of his refusal, had not such meetings,
where the nobility of both kingdoms assembled
on equal terms, been a fact too well known to
be denied. Upon this refusal Eufus was advised
by his counsellors to detain the Scottish king as
a prisoner; but this he refused, although, it may
be, from no high princij:)le of magnanimity.
Only the year previous he had gained posses-
sion of a large portion of Normandy, and been
promised the whole dukedom should he outlive
his brother Robert ; but such a flagrant viola-
tion of all feudal law as the detention of the
Scottish king might have reduced his own hope
of succession by the same law on the Continent
to an absolute nullity. He dismissed Malcolm
unhaimed, but in a scornful supercilious man-
ner, and the latter, thus insulted, hiuTied to
Scotland and prepared for immediate war.

These prepai-ations appear to have been con-
ducted with angry haste, and were therefore ill
fitted to encounter the united weight of Eng-
land. The meeting at Gloucester occurred on
the 24th of August (109.3), and httle more than
two months afterwards Malcolm at the head of
a tumultuary army burst into Northumbeiland,
which he wasted as on the former occasion with
fire and sword. After having ravaged the open
country, he proceeded to lay siege to the castle
of Abiwick. Here, however, his cai-eer was
ended, for, on the 13th of November, he was
surprised and slain by Robert de Mowbray, Earl
of Northumberland. With him also fell Edward,
his eldest son, who would have succeeded to the
thi'one. Such was the end of Malcolm Canmore,
after a long and glorious reign, of which the
particulars handed down are so scanty that they
are chiefly to be surmised from their important
residts. Like William the Conqueror, his con-
temporary, his reign forms the gi-eat historical
epoch and starting-point of the country over
which he ruled ; and to him those important
institutions have been referred whose origin
cannot otherwise be ascertained. Succeeding
to the rule of an unsettled kingdom and a bar-
barous and divided people, it speaks higlily for
his abilities both as a statesman and soldier
that he was able to hold his course so success-
fully against such opponents as the Conqueror
and William Rufus. It is in this character that
he looms before us in the obscurity of remote
ages, and the brief as well as sometimes contra-
dictory statements of the English chronicles
from which our knowledge of him is chiefly
derived.

During this unfortunate campaign Queen
Margai'et, worn by the fastings and austerities
which her church encouraged, was lying upon
her death-bed in the castle of Edinburgh. She
had received for the last time the communion,

A.D. 1034-1097.]

and was employing the few moments that re-
mained to her upon earth in devout supplica-
tions for acceptance with Him into whose pre-
sence she was about to enter, when a messenger
of sori'ow glided into the apartment: it was her
son Edgar, who had escaped from the carnage
at Alnwick, and only arrived in time to see his
mother die. Recalled to earthly affections by
his appearance, Margaret eagerly exclaimed,
"How fares it with the king, and my Edward V
— and the mournful silence of the youth was the
only answer. " I know all," she rejoined — " I
know all: by the holy cross, by your filial affec-
tion, I adjure you, tell me the truth!" He
informed her that both husband and sou were
among the slain. She raised her eyes to heaven,
and faintly exclaimed, " Praise and blessing be
to thee. Almighty God, that thou hast been
pleased to make me endure so bitter anguish in
the hour of my departure, thereby, as I trust, to
purify me in some measure from the corruption
of my sins. And thou, Lord Jesus Christ, who,
through the will of the Father, hast enlivened
the world by thy death, oh, deliver me ! " With
these words she expired.

It will at once be seen that a history of Mal-
colm Canmore would be incomplete if taken
apart from that of Mai-garet. In his govern-
ment, indeed, she seems throughout to have
been his better genius, and to her whatever
civilization his subjects acquired was mainly
owing. Her wisdom and goodness were also
conspicuous in the carefulness with which she
avoided all open interference in the government
of the kingdom, so that his renown should be
undiminished and his authority unimpaired.
In all those departments of internal adminis-
tration in which a queen may be allowed to
co-operate with her lord and husband, we seem
to recognize the spirit of Alfred, her illustrious
ancestor — the same earnest self-sacrilicing de-
votedne.ss to the instruction and civilization of
her people, but softened into feminine gentle-
ness, and confined within its proper sphere.
With such worth, and diffusing such blessings,
it is not wonderful that her name was adopted
as a household one for the homes of Scotland,
as well .18 enrolled in the hagiology of a grateful
priesthood.

The death of Malcolm Canmore gave every
promise of being followed by a troubled suc-
cession to the throne. Of his six sons, the
eldest had fallen with him in battle; the
second, Ethelred, had disquahfied himself for a
crown by assuming the clerical tonsure; and
the other four princes were still minors.
Donald Rme was indeed still alive, and in
the Hebrides, to which he had escaped on the
assassination of his father by Macbeth; but

FROM DUNCAN TO EDGAR.

93

the Tanist law, which of late had sustained
so many rude shocks, was not likely to be in
favourable acceptance with the Norman chiefs
and Anglo-Saxon population, who were already
so influential in the affairs of the kingdom.
But Donald Bane, although now an old man,
' was resolved to try the experiment; and, suj>
ported by the Norse chieftains of the Hebrides,
he set sail with a formidable armament and
landed upon the mainland of Scotland. His
claims were warmly supported by the Celtic
part of the population, who hated the Saxons,
and were jealous of foreign innovation ; and
regarding Donald as the champion and repre-
sentative of their race they quickly bore him
forward to the elevation he coveted. The new
king, who appears to have been a genuine
savage, soon requited this favour by the expul-
sion of the obnoxious foreignei-s; and among
those who fled were the four sous of Canmore,
who were safely conveyed into England by
Edgar Atheling from the fury of their tyrant
uncle. Fortunately this backward career of
Donald was speedily ai-rested. The late king,
besides his childi-en bj- Margai-et, had an elder
illegitimate son, Duncan, whom he had left as a
hostage in the hands of the EngKsh in the
treaty of 1072, who had received knighthood
from the hand of Eufus, and been trained
under him in military service. At a period
when crowns and countships were the prizes of
every military adventurer, Duncan sought and
quickly obtained permission from the English
king to try hLs fortune in Scotland ; and after
having sworn fealty to Eufus he commenced
the adventure with a miscellaneous army of
Normans and English, men who, having failed
to cai've out estates with their swords in the
south, were willing to content themselves with
the less profitable acres of the northern king-
dom. Donald Bane was expelled by the in-
vadere after he had worn the crown for a short
year, and Duncan reigned in his stead.

At this point of our national history the
usual darkness gathere doubly around it. It
has been alleged, for instance, in justification of
Duncan, that he was the legitimate offspring of
Malcolm Canmore by a fii-st marriage, and that
his occujiation therefore of the throne was
according to the rule of primogeniture estab-
lished among every people but the Celts. In
this way they explain the aid which Rufus
gave to the expedition, and his acquiescence in
its result — as if the sou of him who was wont
to sign himself "Gulielmus Bastardus" would
have been a stickler for legitimate succession !
It was by such a sovereign also as Duncan,
who was his sworn vassiil, that the English
king could best hope to lay a secure hold upon

94

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Scotland. Others, •who are convinced of Dun-
can's illegitimacy, declare that he did not usurp
the crown at all, but merely acted as regent for
his lawfully born brothers until they should be
of age. But whether he ruled as king or
regent it mattered little, for his rule was
brought in a few months to a violent termina-
tion. Edmund, a son of Canmore, incensed at
the usurpation of his step-brother, entered into
a league with Donald Bane for the removal of
Duncan and the partition of the kingdom
between themselves ; and in consequence of
this compact Duncan was assassinated by Mal-
pedir. Earl of Meams, one of the conspirators.
According to William of Malmesbury a full
measure of poetical justice was meted out to
the unnatural Edmund, for in a few years
after, when order was restored in Scotland,
he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment ;
and in the death-bed anguish of his remoi-se
he ordered his chains to be bui-ied with him
as the token of his repentance. If this story
be true, it makes for the full legitimacy and
lawfid royal succession of the unfortunate
Duncan.

[a.d. 843-1097.

The way being cleared for his re-entrance
into Scotland Donald Bane returned from his
shelter in the Hebrides, and a.d. 1095 became
once more a king. But neither increasing age
nor his late dethi'onement appear to have
added to his wisdom, and on resuming the
royal seat he also resumed his baffled plans of
restoring the old Celtic ascendency by the sup-
pression and banishment of strangers. These
men, however, although as yet the smaller
number, were not to be expelled so easily,
and they could calculate upon the sympathies
of England, from which country they had so
recently emigrated. It was no difficult matter,
therefore, for Edgar AtheUng to obtain per-
mission of Rufus to assemble English forces
and make an attempt in Scotland for the resti-
tutiiiu of his sister's children. The expedition
was crowned with success by the defeat of
Donald Bane, who was taken in battle, de-
prived of his eyes, and thrown into prison,
where he soon after died. Edgar, the eldest
surviving son of Malcolm Canmore next to
Ethelred the priest, succeeded by the deposition
of his uncle to the throne of Scotland (a.d. 1097).

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF SOCIETY DURING THE PERIOD 843-1097.

Districts into which Celtic Scotland was divided — Additions made to the territory and population of Scotland
— Immigration of the Cruithne from Ireland into Galloway — Acquisition of Lothian, Strathclyde, Cumbria,
and the Islands— Norwegian population in Scotland — Their character, weapons, shipping, and forts — Their
manufactures — Account of the Scoto-Celtic population — Their laws — Their form of coronation — Their
military habits, weapons, and war-cries — Their want of traffic and coinage — Their scanty literature.

By the conquest or acquisition of Kenneth
Macalpin, Caledonia had now become Scotland,
and the two rival races by which it was peo-
pled wei-e fused into one, of which, as was to
be expected, the Scoto-Irish had the complete
predominance. This fusion, too, was the more
easy, as both the Picts and Scots were children
of the same great Celtic family, so that there
were less demand upon the vanquished either
for change or sacrifice.

When the country of many tribes and con-
tending interests bad thus become an entire
kingdom, it is interesting to mark the portions of
which Scotland proper was now composed and to
ascertain its historical limits. These have been
divided into ten districts, of which division the
following is a summary: —

1. Fife, comprehending the country between
the Forth and the Tay below the Ochil HUls.

2. Strathearn, comprising Menteith and
Breadalbane, which included the country be-
tween the Forth and the Ochil HiUs on the
south and the Tay on the north.

3. Athole, including Stormont, comprehend-
ing the central Highlands, and lying between
the Tay and Badenoch.

4. Angus, which consisted of the country
lying between the Tay and the Isla on the south
to the river North Esk upon the noi'th.

5. Merxe or Merns, composing the district
from the North Esk to the river Dee.

6. Aberdeen, including Banff, lying between
the river Dee and the Spey.

7. Moray, extending from the Spey to the
Farar and Beauly, and westward to the boun-
daries of Northern Argyle.

8. Argyle, the ancient kingdom of the Scots,
stretching along the continent of Scotland from

..D. 843-1097.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

9.5

the Clyde into the heart of Eoss, and compris-
ing the numerous islands in the neighbourhood.

9. Koss, composed of Eoss and Cromarty.

10. SuTHEKLASD and Caithness.'

Such was Celtic Scotland during the present
period, subject to one system of law, whatever
that might be, and governed by one sovereign.
But stUl the Celtic principle of division into
tribes and the patriarchial form of rule pre-
vailed, so that each district was governed by its
own monnaor, who if he was strong enough
might tyraunize over his neighbour chiefs, or
even rebel against the king, should the supreme
authority be opposed to his own interests.

The Scoto-Irish population which thus pre-
dominated were not entirely composed of the
descendants of those who came into the counti-y
with Fergus and his brothere. There was a
later Irish immigration and conquest in Scot-
land, to which it now becomes neces.sary to
advert. When the Saxon invasion of England
was crowned with success in the south, the
spirit of adventure, or the inability to secure a
better portion, impelled several of the invaders
northward, where large and still unoccupied
territories awaited the first comer. On this
account the large peninsula formed by the Sol-
way, the Irish Sea, and the Clyde was overrun
by the Northumbrian Saxons, so that the dis-
trict was soon included in the kingdom of
Northumberland, although the scanty native
population was stiU more nimierous than the
Saxon. But at the end of the eighth century
the Northumbrian dynasty was extinguished;
and the extensive district being so far removed
from the parent seat of government, and still
so scantily inhabited, lay invitingly open to
fresh bands of homeless adventurers. At this
crisis the Cruithne of Ulster, overpowered by
the invasions of the Danish sea-kings, crossed
the narrow sea, as then- countrymen the Dal-
riads had done four centmies eailier, obtained
a footing near the Ehinns of Galloway; and
being soon after followed during the ninth and
tenth centuries by bands of their countrymen,
as well as joined by their kinsmen the Scots of
Cantii-e, they took possession of the whole of
that extensive district which subsequently ob-
tained the name of Galloway.

One of the most important as well as one of
the latest acquisitions of the glowing kingdom
of Scotland was Lothian, which at the accession
of Kenneth Macalpin was still a part of Eng-
land, although it had often been a debatable
ground and battlefield of the Saxons and the
Picts. It still continued to belong to England
till the eleventh century, when Malcolm II.

I Chalmers' Caledonia.

obtained it by the peaceful concession of
Eadwulf, Eail of Northumberland, in 1020.
This was a valuable acquisition, as the Lothian
(or Loudian) of those daj's comprised not only
what are now called the Lothians, but the
Merse, and that part of Eoxburghshire which
lies on the north of the Tweed.

Among the additions made to Scotland dur-
ing this period must be mentioned the British
kingdom of Strathclyde. This little Welsh ter-
ritory, which was obliged to maintain its inde-
pendence successively against the Saxons, the
Picts, the Danes, and the Scots, at last was
exhausted by its own eiforts and fell an easy
prey to its overwhelming neighbours, so that it
was conquered and annexed to the Scottish
crown by Kenneth III. in the tenth century.

Another British kingdom which was not so
easUy to be won by Scotland, or so permanently
retained, was that of Cumbria. After it had
long and gallantly resisted both its Saxon and
Danish invadere it was at length conquered by
the former, and bestowed upon Malcolm I. by
Edmund the English king as the price of alli-
ance and aid. On being thus obtained it formed
a principality, and furnished a title to the heir
of the Scottish throne, who was invested in its
government by the sovereign under the title
of Prince of Cumberland. But in 1072 this
comfortable occupation of so large a principality
was interrupted by WUliam the Conqueror, who
made a grant of it to Eanulf Meschines, one of
his favourite chiefs, who in turn subdivided
it into fiefs for the militaiy retainei-s who fol-
lowed his banner. The portion of Cumbria,
however, which lay nearest Scotland was stLU
retained by the latter, and its claims to the
whole were kept in reserve as a ground of
future controversy.

In this way was Scotland, a land which natm-e
herself had di\"ided into numerous independent
districts by chains of mountains and broad rapid
rivers, as well as by the segregation of its famdies
into separate clans, at length rounded into an
entire kingdom, with a single people in full pre-
dominance. But most important it was for its
future safety and prosperity that here its limits
should not terminate; for its seas were studded
with islands which, as long as they remained
independent of its authority, woidd inclose the
kingdom as with a hostile network. A jia-ssing
glance at these is necessai-y for a full under-
standing of the condition of Scotland at this
early period.

What was the history of the Orkney and
Shetland IsLmds before the ninth century — if,
indeed, thej- had a history to tell — has never
been recorded. They had no tin, like the Cas-
siterides, to allure the merchant, nor rich acres

96

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. S43-1097

to invite the conqueror; and we hear of them
for the first time in Scottish records as
the asylums of rebels and runaways. These
were Norwegians, who had iied from Harold
Harfagre, their king, in consequence of his
naval victory by which he reunited the pro-
vinces of Norway into an entire government.
Having accomplished this, a.d. 875, he tui'ned
his attention to the refugees, whose neighbour-
hood was still sufficiently dangerous; and he
easily reduced these islands to his authority and
placed them under the sway of Jarl Sigurd, who
ruled them as his deputy. A line of jarls suc-
ceeded ; but the submission of these Orcadian
reguli, who lived by piracy and plunder, to the
crown of Norway under which they held rule,
could have been little more than nominal.
Toward the close of the tenth century the
islanders were converted to Christianity by the
Culdees, but with little abatement of their spirit
of pii'atical enterprise, for they still continued
to harass the eastern coasts of Scotland, and
managed to establish a permanent footing in
Sutherland, Ross, and Moray. In the coui-se
of these conquests also their chiefs, fortunately
for Scotland, were often at wai- among them-
selves, and in this way the Hebrides were re-
duced iuto tributaries to the Lord of the Ork-
neys and Shetlauds. At length, in 1090, Norway
was strong enough to bring back these sea-kings
to their old allegiance ; and Magnus Barefoot,
the Norwegian sovereign, visited these islands
■with long-delayed chastisement, and compelled
the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and the Isle
of Man to recognize themselves as vassal states
of his kingdom.

In this way a rival kingdom was established
in the Scottish seas and upon the coast which
might, under favouring circumstances, have
obtained the final ascendency and changed the
character of the people as well as the current
of their history. But formidable though this
Scandinavian power certainly was, there were
obvious difficulties which rendered such a con-
summation aU but impossible. These are to be
chiefly found in the narrowness of its extent,
the poverty of its soil, and the want of union
and cohesion among its widely scattered and
discordant members, so that their final sub-
jugation to the united power of Scotland, how-
ever tedious might be the process, was an in-
evitable necessity. This accordingly happened,
as we shall find, in the coui-se of events, and the
infusion of so large a Scandinavian element into
the Celtic and Saxon population of Scotland not
only added gi-eatly to its strength and i-esources,
but to the high qualities of its national char-
acter. Even glancing through a long coui-se of
succeeding centuries, we can find that the naval

flag of Britain, through which our island at last
obtained such a univereal dominion, was mainly
unfurled and borne onward by the descendants
of the Danelagh population of England, and
those of the Norwegian islands and districts of
Scotland.

It is unfortunate, however, that we know so
little of the habits, manners, and mode of life
which prevailed among the early settlera of these
islands. As it was the custom of the earliest
British historians to call all the Noi-se invadera
Danes indiflFerently, whether they came from
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, or even Iceland,
the same mistake has been committed in our old
Scottish chronicles, where the invaders are called
by the general name of Danes instead of the
distinctive title of Nonvegians. We may there-
fore safely conclude that these conquerors and
colonists of the Orkney, Shetland, and Hebridian
islands were similar to their brethren, who about
the same period attempted the conquest of Eng-
land. That in religion they were worehipi^ers
of Odin, and in occupation pirates, we assuredly
know ; and that they did not fall short of that
fearless and ruthless chai'acter which such a
creed inspu-ed and such pursuits cherished, we
are fidly warranted to conclude. The followers
of Halfdane and Guthrun in the days of Alfred
are described as unsparing destroyers of churches
and murderers of pi'iests; as insatiable plun-
derers and extortioners ; as perfidious tiiice-
breakera whom no oaths could bind ; as im-
measurable gluttojis and drunkards, when the
means were within their reach ; and as guests,
who, after devouring the substance of a house,
were wont at their departure to murder the
inmates who had waited on them, and set fire
to the dwelling that had sheltered them — and
the facts which the English historians relate
confirm the truth of so revolting a picture.
Such, then, were probably those roving free-
bootei-s of Norway who inhabited the Scottish
islands during the ninth and tenth centuries.
But happily their means of mischief were limited
by stormy seas and barren rocks; and when they
made their descents on the mainland they found
a country almost as poor as theii* own, where
hard blows were at least as plentiful as booty.
Their invasions, therefore, upon Scotland were
neither so formidable nor so sanguinai-y as those
of the Danes in England. The same English
histories attest the nautical intrepidity and skiU
of these rovei-s ; their superiority in castrameta-
tion, and the unflinching valour with which they
battled against every odds ; and in these quali-
ties we may conclude that the Orcadians and
Hebridians were not inferior to theii- congeners.
Of the defensive armour of these Noree warriors
the helmet and shield were the chief, if not the

..D, 843-1097.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

97

only portion at this period ; the shirt or haber-
geon of steel, chain-work and armour of plate
being later inventions. Of offensive weapons,
besides the usual missiles of slings, dai-ts, and
arrows, and the sword and spear for close fight,
the Danes and Norwegians were distinguished
by the large double-edged battle-axe and heavy
iron mace, which last weapon was adopted from
the mighty hammer of their god Thor (the
northern Hercules) with which he performed
his wonderful achievements. Of the piratical
vessels, these dragons of the sea, which so often
issued from the rocky bays of the northern and
western islands in quest of their prey, we can
foi-m a distinct idea from the numerous descrip-
tions to be found in the old runes and northern
histories. They were long, naiTOW, and low,
and thus equally adapted for swift sailing and
stealthy movements ; and they were usually
adorned with a figure-head at the prow like the
vessels of earliest antiquity. Besides the usual
complement of spears, arrows, and darts, each
vessel was furnished with a quantity of heavy
stones to sink an adversary; and along the sides
was a breastwork of shields planted in a row
by which the rowers were defended from mis-
siles discharged from a distance, and which they
could buckle on when it came to close combat.
The missiles of distant fight were discharged
from the pi-ow and stern, which were built high
for the purpose. In encountering the galley
often tilted with its beak against the sides of
the opposing vessel ; and when they closed the
battle was chiefly maintained on the prows.
Often two ships were lashed together by mutual
agreement, and the fight was maintained until
one of the crews was overpowered. In these
particulars we recognize the elements of a British
naval fight in the nineteenth century.

From a people thus jirepared both from choice
and necessity for universal aggi-ession unusual
precautions in their means of defence were but
too necessary, and were therefore not neglected.
Accordingly, in the Orkney and Shetland is-
lands, and the Hebrides, in Caitlniess and
Sutherland, and in some parts of the west coasts
of Ross and Inverness, Norwegian stone build-
ings, the tokens of a very early age, still exist,
called htrgs in the Noree language, and duns in
the Celtic, both names signifying a place of
strength. These are often sup])osed, but eiTone-
ously, to liave been erected by the Pict.s, and
are sometimes called the Picts' houses or castles,
although tliey are only to be found in those dis-
tricts which anciently formed the Norwegian
part of Scotland. These burgs are constructed
of stones without any kind of cement, but well
fitted into each other; and they generally stand
along the sea-coast, two or three, or even more

sometimes being in sight of each other. In
form they are circular, or slightly elliptical; and
in height they vary fi-om ten to forty feet, hav-
ing from one to four stories of apartments ac-
cording to their altitude. They generally had
two walls, one within the other, with an open
space between from four to five feet wide ; and
to make an xmfriendly visit as difficult as pos-
sible, the entrances are both low and small, being
generally not more that three feet in height, and
two feet and a half in width. Each of these
burgs was thus not only a fortress in the hour
of danger, but might seiwe as a signal-station
and a lighthouse. In the Shetland Islands and
the Hebrides the ruins of some of these towers
are on islets in the small lochs, in which case
the only apjiroach to them was by a concealed
causeway under the surface of the water.^

In these indications we trace nothing higher
than the restless, adventurous spirit of these
early inhabitants of the Scottish islands and the
insecure tenure by which property and life
were held. But even during this period the
energy of the Norwegian character was begin-
ning to manifest itself in other enterprises than
those of ph-acy and plunder ; and the cultiva-
tion of useful arts and manufactures in which
these islanders began to be distinguished, indi-
cated a more settled state of society and the
commencement of civilization and refinement.
This was especially the case in the Hebrides
(called the Sudereyar or Southern Islands by
the people of Norway), and the cloths which
they manufactured were famous, we are told,
in tlie northern parts of Europe. A pi-oof of
this is given by a quotation from a northern
poet, who, in describing the splendid dress of
a hero, is careful to teU us that it was spun by
the Sudereyans.2 Such was the Scoto-Teutonic
branch, which, along with the Saxons and
Normans, was so soon to impose a new ]ieople
upon the Celtic kingdoms of Scotland.

While the gi-eat mass of the population in
the meantime consisted of a Pictish, Dalriad,
and Ci'uithne race, it is unfortunate for us
that we know so little of the government and
legislation, and still less of the mannei-s and
customs of the Scottish people before the great
transition was effected. On the union of the
Scots and Picts into one nation it is probable
that a similar union was also formed of the
laws of the two peoples. But in this aise the
Brehon system of legislation which belonged to
the Scoto-Irish would assume, as tlie code of
the conquering people, a decided ascendency
over tlie old Pictish, whatever that may have

I Peimant's rour. Gordon's /(incrar)/. Martin's ITftlem
Islands, Slallrtical Accouiil 0/ Scotland.
^ ilacphereou's AnnaU q/ Cvmtncree, vol. i. p. 200.

98

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

been ; aud especially in the matter of Tanistiy,
which regulated the succession to regal and
chieftain authority. That such was the fact
we know fi-om the struggles which took place
for the Scottish throne after the death of
Malcolm Canmore, when not the son but the
brother of the deceased sovereign obtained the
suffrages of the people, while his rival had to
be imposed upon the royal seat by the Saxon
and Norman foreigners. But of the express
laws themselves which were in full force during
this period of Scottish history we stiU remain
ignorant, and the Macalpin code, to which the
inquirer is referred, may be suspected to have
oi-iginated at a later period. These Celtic laws
and Celtic usages continued to predominate
duiing the reigns of Malcolm Canmore and his
immediate successor ; and it was not till after
a hai'd struggle that this primitive and patri-
archal system gave place to the feudal, which
was now the general law of Europe. By this
the chief of the tribe, to whom all owed un-
limited obedience, was changed into the landed
proprietor, whose tenants paid him rent in
military service; instead of a mormaor he
became a thane, an earl, or a sheriff; and his
little kingdom, in which he had been wont to
rule with absolute sway, became an insigni-
ficant portion of the emph-e, to whose great
head he owed the same feudal duty which he
exacted from his own tenants and dependants.
But how this duty was paid, and how keenly
these deposed magnates looked back upon the
old days when they had neither check nor
superior, may be read in the continual rebel-
lions of the Scottish nobility against theii-
kings until feudalism itself had utterly passed
away.

In the coronation of kings, the use of an
inaugural stone seems to have been a distin-
guishing characteristic of the Scoto-Irish race.
Hence the many travels and mystic importance
of that slab of black mai'ble which now reposes
so peacefully in the cathedral of Westminster.
It was declared to have been the original stone
which Jacob in his flight first used as a pillow
and then set up as a memorial. It was brought
by Gathelus to Spain, and afterwards by his
descendants from Spain to Ireland, where it
was set up on the Hill of Tara as the future
coronation-seat of the sovereigns of Ireland.
After having been used for this august purpose
for many ages it was then brought from Ire-
land to Cantire, and was finally transfeiTed to
Scone when the son of Alpin succeeded to the
rule of the whole kingdom. The unquestionable
antiquity of its history, the many corouations
it had witnessed, and, above all, the prophetic
promise that accompanied it, and which was

[a.d. 843-1097.

supposed to have been verified in all its past
wanderings, made it be regarded with such
religious veneration that, long after the Celtic
dominion had passed away, no Scottish sove-
reign would have been recognized as a lawful
king unless he had received his power by being
seated upon this thi-one of promise and miracle.
But this was not all ; for the ancient usages of
a Celtic coronation formed also the chief part of
the ceremonial. What these were we learn
from our oldest historical records. Wlien the
boy-sovereign, Alexander III., was crowned at
Scone, the feud;d part of the rite was soon per-
formed by administering to him the usual
oaths, firat in Latin, and afterwards in Norman-
French. This being ended, the Celtic portion
of the gi-eat national rite commenced. The
boy was led to the sacred stone, which was
placed before the cross in the eastern division
of the chapel ; the crown was placed upon his
head and the sceptre in his hand ; and the
nobility, kneeling before him in token of
homage, spread then- robes beneath his feet.
An ancient bard or seannachie with long white
hail- and clothed in a scai-let mantle then ad-
vanced, and, bowing before the throne, reheiu'sed
in Gaelic the names of Alexander's royal ances-
tors down to the days of Gathelus. But even
such a fearful crash of uncouth, unintelligible
words may have been gi-atifying to Saxon ears,
because it boded " awful rule and right su-
premacy." The use of such stones appeal's
to have been common in the inauguration of
the chiefs both in Scotland and Ireland. One
of the most important of these was at Islay.
It was a "large stone seven feet square, in
which there was a deep impression that was
made to receive the feet of Mac Donald, when
he was crowned King of the Isles, and took the
coronation oath : whereupon his father's sword
was put into his hands, and he was anointed
by the Bishop of Argyle and seven priests in
the presence of the heads of the tribes." ^

Of the war-habits of the Scots of this period
we have very scanty information. Their chief
weapons were a vei-y long and slender spear
and the heavy claymore, while besides the
small round target covered with leather they

1 JIartin's Western Islands, p. 241. Spenser (author of
the Faery Queen) gives the following account of the in-
stallation of a chief amons the Irish : "They use to place
him that shall be their captain upon a stone always re-
served to that purpose, and placed commonly upon a hill.
In some of which I have seen formed and engraven a foot,
which they say wag the measure of their first captain's
foot ; whereon he, standing, receives an oath to preserve all
their ancient former customs inviolate, and to deliver up
the succession peaceably to his Tanist: and then hnth a
wand delivered to him by some whose proper otfice that is;
after which, descending from the stone, he turueth himself
round thrice forwards and thrice backwards."

A.D. 843-1097.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

99

seem to have little if any defensive armour.
In the wars, therefore, which were waged by
Malcolm C'anmore and his successor their
regular military operations seem chiefly to have
depended upon tlie well-armed and well-disci-
plined Norman and Saxon soldiery, who now
constituted so large a portion of a Scottish
army. The use of war-cries, so essential to all
armies in the ruder stages of warf;ire, was espe-
cially needed among the Scots, not only to dis-
tinguish their tumultuary ranks from tho.se of
the enemy, but one clan from another. Hence,
as we learu accidentally from Hoveden, the
battle-word of the men of Galloway was "Al-
banich !" which they shouted on advancing to
the charge. In later times we find that the
cries of separate clans were generally taken
from the place of military muster, and reminded
them of the district and the homes for which
they were fighting, and this may have been the
case at an early period. Thus the cry of the
Macfarlanes was " Loch Sloy," a small lake in
Arrochar parish, Dumbartonshire; that of the
Macphersons, "Craig Ubhe," or the black rock;
that of the Buchanans, "Clare Inch," the name of
a small island in Loch Lomond where theii- chief
resided, &c. Of heraldic cognizances, whether
general or particular, the Scots had none ; and
indeed for men who were so ignorant of pic-
torial imitation, and so unaccustomed to dis-
guise their persons with a covering of defensive
armour, these distinctions were unnecessary,
even if their wearers could have carved or
painted them. It was only when the Scots
became a Teutonic I'ather than a Celtic nation
that these innovations were introduced, in con-
formity with general European usage. On this
account the legend of the national blazonry of
Scotland having been devised by Charlemagne,
and imparted to King Achaius, may be dis-
missed without scruple.

In some respects that indicate an advance in
national civilization Scotland was considei'ably
behind the other nations of Euiope. One of the
earliest tokens of a civilized people is the use of
coinage, and specimens of money are generally
the most abundant as well as the most enduring
of a nation's antiquities; but not one trace of
an old Scoto-Celtic coin can be discovered in
the abundant antiquarian treasury of Scotland.
Some have thought that there must have been
a national coinage notwithstanding, and the
proof tliey adduce is the historic fact of Mac-
beth's ample charities during his pilgrimage to
Rome. But could he not bestow good largesses
of Scottish gold and silver unless it had been
coined f Or might he not have furnished him-
self with the necessary supplies in foreign
money by giving sufficient value in exchange ?

In the absence of these convenient symbols the
traffic of the Scots must have been carried on
with the cumbrous realities, and their chief cash
must have been in the foi-m of sheep and oxen.
This implies the absence of foreign commerce;
and accordingly the Scots were so unaccustomed
to trade with other countries, that no mention is
made of it till the daj's of Malcolm Canmore.
Then, too, it was of the simplest and most
primitive kind — a traffic in dress and orna-
ments by a half-naked people who had not skill
enough to make these articles for themselves.
At this point, however, a certain mercantile
spirit seems to have been awoke among the
people, of which we shall afterwards have occa-
sion to trace the progress and results.

In such a period and amidst the wild strife
of so many races, Pictish and Celtic, Anglian
and Scandinavian, all striving for the posses-
sion of the country, an inquii-y into the con-
dition of its literature seems all but superfluous-
Of ecclesiastical writers, besides Columba, whom
we have formerly mentioned as an author, we
have Cuminius or Cummin, Abbot of lona in the
middle of the seventh century, who vrrote a life
of the patron saint of the island; and Adam-
nan, also abbot duiing the close of that cen-
tury, who wrote a Life of Columba, and an
Account of the Holy Places in Jiidcea. Had
the learning of the country been capable of
higher eflbrts the opportunity was lost by the
destruction of the college of lona during the
terrible ravages of the northern sea-kings. After
this Scottish authorship was silent until the
thii'teenth century, when it gave tokens of its
awakening from repose. As the Celtic charac-
ter, however, is especially poetical, and as poetry
does not depend for its aliment upon books and
scholarship, a bardic literature at least might
have been expected in the absence of other
intellectual indications. But with the excep-
tion of the very doubtful Ossianic specimens, no
Scottish poetry, whether Celtic, Cumbrian, or
Pictish, has survived to distinguish this jieriod
of mental barrenness. When deeds of valour
or turbulence are achieved poets are naturally
produced to record them, and in this way even
in Scotland every downright blow may have
produced its apjiropriate rhyme. But beyond
the hearth of the chieftain or the circle of a
warlike festival these lays seem never to have
travelled, and they died with the deeds they
recorded or the voices that gave them utterance.
Had a poet worthy of the name been produced
we surely woiUd have he.ird of him at least in
the pages of Xennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth,
and Giraldus Cambrensis.

Such is our scanty knowledge of Scotland
during the brief period of Scoto-Irish ascend-

100

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 843-1097

ency and while its Celtic populatiou constituted
the bulk of its society. This ascendency is con-
sidered to have terminated with Donald Bane, at
which period the Teutonic races began to vindi-
cate their superiority and become the dominant
power; and when the Celts, gi-adually driven
before the resistless inundation, were finally
borne back to the petty kingdom of Ai-dgael
fi-om which they had originally issued. Their

disappearance from the foreground, like their
entrance, was of a slow and silent and undis-
tinguished character — not a sudden conquest
or overthi-ow, but a gradual yielding before the
growtli of a foreign and rival power. At a
future period they come forward as the High-
landers, and some account of their character and
modes of life as such will necessarily occur in a
later portion of our history.

PERIOD III.

FEOM THE ACCESSION OF EDGAH TO THE DEATH OF
ALEXANDER UL (a.d. 1097 to a.d. 1286).

CHAPTER I.

REIGNS OF EDGAB, ALEXANDER I., DAVID I.— 1097-1153.

Accession of Edgar — His tranquil reign — Marriage of his sister to Henry I. of England — His death — Edgar
succeeded by Alexander I. — Alexanders contests with the English hierarchy — His efforts to secure the
independence of the Scottish church — Appointment of Turgot to the primacy of St. Andrews— Appoint-
ment of Eadmer — Alexander's spirited and successful resistance — His donations to the church — His death
and character — Alexander I. succeeded by David I. — Ecclesiastical contests renewed — David supports the
claim of Matilda to the English throne — He invades England — Battle of the Standard — Defeat of the
Scots — David's exertions in the cause of Matilda — The adventurer Wimund— His strange career and
defeat — Agreement between David and Henry Plantagenet — Death of David's son Henry — David's
hberahty to the church — His public administration — His private pursuits — His death and character.

On the deposition of Donald Bane, Edgar, the
fourth son of Malcolm Canmore, succeeded to
the crown of Scotland, a.d. 1097. As it was by
English arms that he had been placed upon the
throne, a feeling of gratitude, as well as the con-
sciousness of his own helplessness, may have
bound him to that close alliance which he seems
to have maintained without interraption with
so fierce and imperious a sovereign as William
Eufus. In this, perhaps, consisted his chief
safety as the king of so unsettled a realm and
80 many different and contending races, for in
character he appeal's to have been mild, easy,
and unenterprising, so that the highest praise
bestowed upon him by the old historians is, that
in all things he resembled Edward the Con-
fessor. Happily for him, no public event seems
to have occurred during bis reign to disturb his
tranquillity or test his fitness for rule; and a
Norwegian invasion that threatened to burst
upon the kingdom was exhausted upon its
remote boundaries, the Orkneys and Hebrides.
This was in consequence of a design of Magnus,
King of Norway, to reduce his subjects of these
islands to full submission, and afterwards to
invade the coasts of England and Ireland. He
is said, indeed, in the course of his expedition
to have landed in Galloway after he had quelled
the rebellious islesmeu ; but as no conflict is re-
corded on this occasion, his Wsit, if he arrived
at all, may have only been a partial or tem-
porary landing. Be that as it may, Scotland
was soon freed from all apprehension of this
ten-ible pirate-king, as in the year following

(a.d. 1 103) Magnus carried his devastations to
the north of Ireland, where he perished.

The friendly terms which Edgar had main-
tained with England during the reign of William
Eufus, were strengthened by the bond of mar-
riage on the accession of Henry. This was the
union of his sister MatUda to Henry I., sur-
named Beauclerk, shortly after his accession to
the throne of England. This princess, who in
early youth had been obliged to escape to Eng-
land in consequence of the usurpation of Donald
Bane, had found shelter with her aunt Christina,
the second sister of Edgar Atheling, who was
either abbess of WUton, or of Eumsey in Hamp-
shire. Not only the number of contentious
competitora for her hand, but the wild license
of the Norman conquerore, obliged her to confine
herself within the innermost seclusions of the
convent, until reasons of state policy compelled
her to become a queen. This arose from the
desire of Henry to strengthen his questionable
claim to the English crown by an alliance with
the royal house of Alfred. He saw, that by
such a marriage he should have the whole Eng-
lish nation in his favour, and be thus enabled
to maintain himself against the superior right
of his elder brother Eobert, while the oppressed
Anglo-Sa-\ons exulted in the hope that their
bondage woidd be lightened by one of their
race becoming a partner in the throne. Tlius
urged both by king and people, Matilda con-
sented to become the wife of Henry ; but hei-e
another difficulty occuiTed : it was the general
belief that she had taken the vows of a nun,

102

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-1153.

and consequently, as the bride of heaven, could
never become the mate of an earthly husband.
But this difficulty was also surmounted. Her
aunt, to save her, she said, " from the lust of
the Normans, who attacked all females," was
accustomed to throw a piece of black stuff over
her head ; " and when I refused," she added,
"to cover myself with it, she treated me very
roughly. In her presence I wore that covering;
but as soon as she was out of sight, I threw it
on the ground and trampled it under my feet
in childish anger." This explanation was re-
ceived with triumph, and there were witnesses
in plenty to confirm her statement. It thus
appeared that she had worn the veil only occa-
sionally, and as a disguise or mask ; and the
obstacle being thus removed, she became Queen
of England. Her beauty, her love of learning,
and charity to the poor, were worthy of the
daughter of Margaret of Scotland ; and while
her marriage reconciled the English to a Nor-
man reign, she continued to the last to be a
faithful, affectionate wife to a faithless and
hard-hearted husband.

Another marriage in the family of Edgar was
that of his sister Mary, A.D. 1102, to Eustace,
Count of Boulogne. With this event the history
of Edgar may be said to terminate, although his
reign continued a few yeare longer. He died at
Edinburgh on the 8th of January, 1 106-7, leav-
ing behind him the character of an amiable man
and feeble undistinguished sovereign.

As Edgar, like the monastic Edward the
Confessor whom he so closely resembled, had no
children to succeed him, the throne was imme-
diately filled by Alexander I., his younger
brother. The late king appeal's to have made
a partition of the kingdom, by which, whUe
Alexander succeeded to the sovereignty of the
country on the north of the Friths, David, their
youngest bi'other, obtained all the districts on
the south of the Friths except Lothian as an
independent principality. Such an unadvised
bequest might, as in other royal instances of a
divided government, have been a fruitful source
of brotherly contention and civil war by which
the nation at large would have been the sufferer,
had it not been that Henry of England ap-
proved of the partition, which secured his
dominion from the chance of a united Scottish
invasion, while David himself was secured in
his large possessions, in which the Scottish share
of Cumberland was included, by the favour of
the powerful English barons who advocated his
claims. This, indeed, they did so effectually
that Alexander, notwithstanding his high spirit,
acquiesced in the arrangement. Still further
also to secure the alliance of the Scottish king,
Henry bestowed upon him his natural daughter

Sibylla in marriage. It was a period when
illegitimate descent was neither an indelible
disgrace, nor yet an insuperable bar to a royal
succession, and none were more interested in
countenancing this general feeling than the
family of William the Conqueror.

The chief contention by which the reign of
Alexander I. was signalized was of a religious
not a secular character, in which his own rights
as a sovereign and the ecclesiastical indepen-
dence of the kingdom were seriously involved.
Hitherto the poverty of the Scottish church,
and the unobtrusive lives of the clei'gy, had
secured them from the ambitious designs both
of Rome and England, and the pre-eminence
which the Archbishop of York had claimed
over all the northern sees had as yet been little
more than a dead letter. Matters, howevei',
had now altered. The Scottish bishoprics,
from late royal endowments, had risen into
such importance as made their patronage worth
having, and nothing but a fit opportunity
was wanting for the English primates to estab-
lish their claim. And this opportunity occurred
when, in consequence of a vacancy in the
bishopric of St. Andrews, Turgot, the monk of
Durham, and afi'ectionate chaplain and bio-
grapher of Queen Margaret, was selected by
Alexander, with the approbation of both clergy
and people, to fill the important office of
Primate of Scotland. It was now the time
for the Archbishop of York to claim the right
of consecrating Turgot to the appointment;
but it unfortunately happened that the arch-
bishop himself although elected was not con-
secrated, and therefore could not bestow con-
secration upon another. In this strait a
rumour was carried to Canterbury that a
compromise had been devised by the English
prelates of the Border by which the Primate
of York was to give his presence at the cere-
mony, while the Bishop of Durham, as his
vicar, was to invest Turgot witli the necessary
episcopal sanction. Of this arrangement An-
selm, Aj-chbishop of Canterbury, indignantly
disapproved, and commanded his brother of
York to come himself to Canterbury and be
consecrated, instead of attempting to bestow
consecration upon another. After a long and
complicated controveray, during which the see
of St. Andrews lay vacant, an expedient was
devised by the kings of England and Scotland
by which the debate was for the present
quieted. It was that the Archbishop of York
should consecrate Turgot, and that this act
should be received "saving the authority of
either church," which was to he over as a
subject for future adjustment. In this un-
wonted fashion Turgot in 1109 became Bishop

L.D. 1097-1153.]

EDGAB— ALEX A XDER I.— DAVID I.

103

of St. Andrews. But the good old man was
far otherwise than happy in his northern
primacy ; and while he probably sought to
complete those innovations by which the Scot-
tish church might be reduced to a complete
conformity with that of England, he had no
longer the persuasive influence of Queen Mar-
garet nor the authority of Malcolm Canmore
to second his efforts. Be that as it may, he
found himself involved in so many trying
difticulties that he thought at one time of
repaii'ing to Rome for counsel and direction.
After sis yeara of trial and vexation he asked
permission to revisit the monastery of Durham,
in which he had been a monk before he became
a prelate; and in that seclusion, which he
ought never to have quitted, he soon after died.
With the death of Turgot the late con-
troversy was opened afresh about the question
of his successor ; and as if to replace it in its
former condition, and make the same gi-ound
be traversed anew, the present Archbishop of
York was precisely in the condition of his
predecessor, having not yet received conse-
cration. In this case Alexander endeavoured
to esciipe the control of both the English pri-
mates by setting them at variance about the
new bishop-elect, who was Eadmer, the Eng-
lish monk of Canterbury, and ecclesiastical
historian ; but the Archbishops of Canterbury
and York had more urgent matters to settle
than those of St. Andrews, and did not fall
into the snare which the Scottish king had
devised for them. Alexander, on his part, was
in no huiTy to fill up the see, which remained
vacant for five years. At length, in 1120,
Alexander sent a special messenger to the
Archbishop of Canterbuiy, requesting that
Eadmer should be "set at liberty" for the pur-
pose of being invested with the Scottish pri-
macy; and with this the archbishop complied,
declaring by letter to the king that he set the
monk "wholly at liberty, and advising that
Eadmer should be sent back to him with all
speed to receive consecration at his hands. On
his arrival in Scotland Eadmer, although
elected by the clergy and people, and with the
full approval of Alexander, did not receive the
pastoral staff and ring from the king, nor yet
perform homage as a Scottish prelate : he felt
as if he were not yet a bishop until he had
received the sanction of those high ecclesias-
tical rulei-s whose authority he deemed paia-
mount to that of king, clergy, and people.
Accoidingly, the day after his election, an
explanation took place between the king and
the bishop, and a rupture was the consequence.
Alexander expressed his dislike to Eadmer
that he should accept consecration from the

Archbishop of York; upon which Eadmer
assured him he had no such purpose, but
intended to receive it from the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the metropolitan, by grace of
the pontiff, over the whole island of Britain.
This was an abrupt overturn of the king's
calculations. By selecting a monk of C'anter-
buiy he had seciu'ed one who would not be
likely to peld to the supremacy of York ; and
by stipulating that Eadmer should be sent to
him entirely free, he hoped that this would
dispense with any further necessity of episcopal
sanction from Canterbury. It was a wholly
independent man that he sought for the pri-
macy of Scotland, and not a suffragan of that
of England. Abruptly and indignantly he
broke off the conference, and commanded the
priest who during the vacancy had acted as
interim bishop to resume his functions.

After a month of this estrangement had
passed, the bishop and king were reconciled
by a curious compromise. Eadmer was to
accept the ring from the hand of the king, but
to take the pastoral staff himself from the altar
on which it was to be laid, thus "receiving it
from the Lord" instead of an eartlily sovereign.
In this way he was to be a bishop, partly by
grace divine and partly by secular permission.
But the Church of Rome understood no such
compositions, and therefore they were certain
to come to nothing. Thurstan, Archbishop of
York, who at present was with Henry I. in
Normandy, quickly heard of this movement in
Scotland by which his claims of superiority
were set at nought, and, at his solicitation,
Henry wiote to the Primate of Canterbury,
forbidding him to consecrate Eadmer, and to
Alexander himself, aiTogantly requiring him to
prevent such consecration. Tlie Scottish king
and Scottish prelate were thus equally in a
dUemma. The former was unwilling to pro-
voke a war with England, while the latter, still
unconsecrated, felt as if he were not yet wholly
a bishop, and could not become so until he had
repaired to the fountain-head. This resolution
of a journey to Canterbury he imjxirted to
Alexander, who heard it with indignation.
"I received you," he s;iid, "altogether free from
Canterbury, and while I live I will not permit
the Bishop of St. Andrews to be subjected to
that see." The reply of Eadmer was equally
resolute. "For your whole kingdom," he said,
"I would not renounce the dignity of a monk
of Canterbury." "Then I have gained no-
thing," cried the king, "in seeking a bishop out
of Canterbury." He thus saw that he had
only doubled the difficulty which he had sought
to obNnate.

Tlie situation of Eadmer w:u3 now a trN-ing

104

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-1153.

one. The proud independent spirit of both
king and people was awake ; and while he felt
the anomalous natui'e of his position and was
anxious to have it settled by what he reckoned
the only competent authority, he knew that his
motions were watched as well as his purpose
prohibited. He craved permission to visit Can-
terbury to take counsel of the archbishop as to
what he should do, " and receive his pontifical
blessing for the glory of God and advancement
of the Scottish kingdom;" but Alexander, who
suspected that this blessing meant nothing less
than episcopal consecration, reiterated his for-
mer refusal and his declarations of the complete
indepeudence of the Scottish church. Being
thus debarred from taking counsel at Canter-
bury, Eadmer sought advice from certain emi-
nent ecclesiastics, both English and Scotch, and
among the rest he propounded his difficulties
to one Nicolas, supposed to have been a prior
of Worcester, and a skilful casuist in matters of
ecclesiastical law. The reply of Nicolas aftbrds
an amusing pictui'e of the condition of Scotland
as well as that of its primate. To Eadmer's
complaints of the bai-barity of the Scots, and
the difficulty of exercising ecclesiastical disci-
pline among them, his counsellor advised him to
keep open table and give plentiful dinners. No-
thing, he alleged, could better promote sound
doctrine and establish ecclesiastiail discipline
among such a bai-barous people, as was shown
even in the example of brute animals, that
forsook theu- own kind to foUow those men
who fed and caressed them. As for the claims
of the Archbishop of York and the difficulties
that might arise from that quai'ter, Nicolas re-
garded them with scorn. Scotland, he observed,
had often furnished bishops to Yoi'k, while York
had never furnished a bishop to Scotland till
the time of Turgot. The Bishop of St. Andrews,
he further asserted, being chief bishop of Scot-
land, was vii'tually an archbishop; and that
therefore the Archbishop of York could not
claim the right to consecrate him, unless he
pretended not merely to be a metropolitan but
also the primate of another kingdom. As for
the contending claims of York and Canterbury
and those of Alexander and Henry in this ques-
tion, he advised Eadmer to get rid of them aU
by applying for consecration dii'ectly fi-om the
pope, with permission of the Scottish king.
Having thus cut the knot with equal boldness
and dexterity, the able casuist ended his letter
with the following singular request : '' I more-
over earnestly beg that you will send me as
many white pearls as you can get. Let them
be the lai-gest you can find, and I beseech you
to send me at least four of this description.
If you cannot otherwise obtain them ask them

at least as a gift from the king, who of all men
is the richest in this kind of treasure." He had
not only tendered his counsel as a jm-iscousult,
but oftered to repaii- to Rome and conduct the
cause of Scottish ecclesiastical independence in
peraon. It thus appeai-s that his demand for
Scottish pearls was neither unreasonable nor
unjust.

These advices were too bold for Eadmer to
follow, and he listened to those counsellor who
advised him to resign his office and leave the
kingdom. He could not indeed be suti'ered to
depart without such a resignation. He there-
fore retui'ned to the king the episcopal ring
which he was now persuaded he should never
have accepted from a layman, and laid the pas-
toral staff on the altar from which he had taken
it up; and declainng that he yielded to force,
and woidd not reclaim his bishopi-ic under the
reign of Alexander except by the advice of the
pope, his own consent, and the King of England,
he returned to his cell at Canterbury. Here,
however, solitude and the counsels of his friends
produced a revolution in his purposes, and he
was now persuaded that his canonical election
being even a stronger tie to the episcopal office
than that of consecration, he could not abandon
Ills bishopric without transgressing the laws of
the church. He was now as ■ndlling to resume
his functions as he had been to relinquish them ;
and in wi-iting to the King of Scots to that
efiect he actually offered to relinquish those
claims of the superiority of the see of Canter-
bury for which he had formerly contended with
the zeal of a martyr. " I mean not," he wrote,
" in any particular to derogate f i-om the freedom
and independence of the kingdom of Scotland.
Should you continue in your former sentiments
I wUl desist from my opposition ; for with re-
spect to the King of England, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, and the sacerdotal blessing, I
had notions which, as I have since learned, were
erroneous. These shall in no way withdraw me
from the service of God and your favour, but
in them I shall act according to your will if
you only permit me to enjoy the other rights
which belong to the bishops of St. Andrews."
But though this application was backed by an
imperious missive from Canterbury, requiring
Alexander to recall Eadmer as the canonically-
elected Bishop of St. Andrews, and declaring
that the see could have no other prelate as long
as Eadmer lived, the Scottish king remained
obdurate. Thus the bishopric continued vacant
till the beginning of 1123-24, when Alexander
procured the appointment for Robert, an Eng-
lish monk, and prior of Scone, who was elected
to the office. Upon this occasion the Arch-
bishop of York interfered, declaring that St.

L.D. 1097-1153.]

EDGAR— ALEXANDER I.— DAVID I.

105

Andrews belonged to his see ; but the Scots had
now fully learned their spii'itual independence,
and his claims were decisively rejected.

This keen and impoi-tant controversy, which
was continued for fifteen years, was the only
war in which Alexander I. was engaged, with
the exception of a revolt among his own sub-
jects, which he quelled with equal promptitude
and severity. It arose in Moray, A.D. 1120,
when Angus, mormaor of the district and grand-
son of Lulach, the stej^son of Macbeth, revived
the pretensions of his family to the crown of
Scotland. It was so effectually suppressed that
no further disturbance arose from that quarter;
and it is supposed that from his proceedings on
this occasion Ale.xander obtained the title of
" The Fierce," under which he is distinguished
in Scottish history.

The rest of the proceedings of this reign of
eighteen years, as they are but incidentally
announced, may be briefly summed up. Of
Alexander's personal valour we are told the
following instance. A band of robbers who
intended to plunder the palace and perhaps
murder the king had been admitted into it by
his faithless steward ; but, awakened by their
coming, Alexander leaped out of bed and de-
fended himself so gallantly that he slew six of
the ruffians, along with their treacherous guide,
before assistance arrived. He was a hberal
benefactor to the church, and liis large grant of
lands to the church of St. Andrews is stiU dis-
tinguished by the name of the " Boar-Chase."
He brought a society of Canons Regular from
England and established them as a monastery
at Scone. He increased the revenues of the
monastery at Dunfermline which had been
founded by his parents. The personal piety of
Alexander was also attested by a romantic inci-
dent. Wliile crossing the Frith of Forth so
violent a tempest arose that he and all his com-
pany only escaped drowning by being ship-
wrecked ujion the little lileak island of Inch-
colm in the mouth of the frith. Here, however,
they would have perished with hunger during
their three days' sojourn before the tempest
abated, had there not been a pious hermit on
the island, who received them into his cell and
sup]ilic'd them from his own scanty resources.
The king, who ascribed his deliverance to the
prayei-s of Columba, the patron saint of Inch-
colm, erected upon it the monastery of St. Colm,
which was also supplied with Canons Regulai-.

In the year 1122 died his queen Sibylla, the
natural daughter of Henry I., whose death her
husband had little cause to deplore, if the testi-
mony of the English historian is to be received,'

1 W. Malmsburj".

who tells us that she had nothing lovable either
in comeliness of person or modesty of behaviour-.
His own death occurred on the 2'7th of April,
1 124. Another English historian,- in describing
his character, says in qualified terms that he
was not ignorant of lettei-s (meaning thereby,
perhaps, that he could read and subscribe his
name); that he was humble and courteous to
the clergy; zealous in pi'oviding them with books
and vestments, and in collecting relics and es-
tablishing churches. The same authority is
careful to make him worthy of the title of
Fierce by telling us that he was terrible beyond
measure to his subjects, proud, and always at-
tempting things beyond his power; but it is
probable that Alexander's gallant and successful
resistance to the encroachments of the English
hierarchy may have rankled in the mind of the
writer. This great attempt to vindicate the
independence of Scotland, and in which he per-
severed so many years, was crowned with the
success it merited; and as for his severity, it was
perhaps nothing more than the unsettled state
of society, thrown loose by the lax government
of Edgai", may have demanded from a Scottish
king.

As Alexander I. died without legitimate
offspring he was succeeded by his brother
David, the youngest son of Malcolm Canmore.
TVe have already mentioned the ample sway in
which the bequest of Edgar had established him.
To these territories David had added the earl-
dom of Northampton by his marriage with
Matilda, his cousin, daughter of Waltheof of
Northumberland, and widow of Simon de St.
Liz, Earl of Northampton, who made him the
father of a son, Henry, nine years before he
ascended the Scottish throne. As his residence
also had been chiefly at the court of Henry I.
with his sister Queen Matilda, he had enjoyed
such intellectual opportunities for the improve-
ment of his people as his own country could
not have aftbrded.' Thus, with advantages
which no Scottish sovereign had previously en-
joyed, and at the age of fully ripened manhood,
the new king entered upon a difficult charge
that fully required all his talents and experi-
ence.

The first event by which the abilities of David
as a sovereign were tested, arose from the still
open controversy about ecclesiastical supremacy.
Although Robert, Prior of Scone, during the
previous reign had been nominated to the bish-
opiic of St. Andrews, he had not as yet been
consecrated, and the pretensions of the see of
York to the spiritual supremacy of Scotland
were at issue upon his consecration. To bring

' W. Malmsbury.

106

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

this difficulty to a close Cardinal John de Crema,
the legate of Pope Houorius II., convoked a
councU to be held at Eoxburgh, to which, by a
bull of the pontiff, King David was requested
to send the Scottish bishops when their pre-
sence should be summoned. Here the prelates
of the two kingdoms were to examine into the
merits of the question, while Honorius pm-
dently reserved the tiual decision to himself.
But his ;u-bitration was uncalled for, as the
council came to no conclusion, and, A.D. 1128,
Eobert was consecrated by Thurstan, Arch-
bishop of York, without any profession or pro-
mise of submission, the ai'chbishop meanwhile
declaring that he thus consecrated him " for the
love of God and of King David — saving always
the claim of the see of York, and the right of
the see of St. Andrews."' In this way a metro-
politan was once more obtained for Scotland
without any concession of the national inde-
pendence.

In the meantime the connection of Da\ad with
England menaced him with a controvei^sy from
that quarter of a very different description.
Henry I., having no legitimate family except
his daughter Matilda, widow of Henry V.,
Emperor of Germany, and now man-ied to
Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, was ambitious that
she should succeed him in the throne of Eng-
land; and as he knew how monstrous a «Ae-king
appeared in the eyes of tliat warlike age, as well
as how averse his proud Norman nobility would
be to "hold their fiefs under the distaff," he
resolved to secure her succession by all the
sanctions which the most solemn oaths could
impose. He had himself repeatedly violated
every obligation of the kind ; but with a delu-
sion common to oath-breakei-s, he imagined that
all other persons would be more scrupulous
than himself, and would respect the sanctions
which he was known to hold in scorn. Ac-
cordingly in the year 1126, on Christmas-day,
and at Windsor Castle, an assembly met at his
summons composed of the bishops, abbots,
barons, and chief holdei-s of the crown, who
assented to the succession of Matilda after the
death of her father, and swore to m;iintain it to
the uttermost, the first who took the oath in his
quality of an English earl being David, King
of Scotland, the uncle of Matilda. On the 1st
of December, 1135, King Henry died, and on
the 26th of the same month, not Matilda, but
Stephen, Count of Boulogne, was proclaimed
sovereign of England. He was the late king's
nephew but by the female line, being the son
of Adela, the daughter of the Conqueror; but

^ Anglia Sacra, it 2^7. Simeon of Durham. WiUdns's Con-
cilia.

[a.d. 1097-1153.

his renown as a wamor, his popular qualities,
his wealth, and even his sex compensated for
the deficiency of his descent, so that his claim
was more attractive to the people than that of
Matilda, and the gi-eater part of the high
church dignitaries and barons who had lately
sworn to maintain the succession of the empress
at once adopted his cause. This usurpation
called the Scottish king into the field, and
though he was related to both parties, in con-
sequence of Stephen being the husband of his
niece Maud, it is probable that his sacred en-
gagement to Henry turned the scale, and per-
suaded him to the dangerous step of a war with
England. He accordingly led an army across
the Border, took possession of the whole country
to the north of Durham, and compelled the
northern barons to swear allegiance to Matilda
and give hostages for their fidelity. When
Stephen heard of this inroad he confidently
exclaimed, "What the King of Scotland has
obtained by stealth, I wLU recover by manhood."
But there was no need of his moving north-
ward, as David soon found himself confronted
by such a powerful combination of the adherents
of Stephen that his further progress was effec-
tually checked. A peace, however, was as neces-
sary for the King of England as for himself, and
a treaty speedily followed, in which David, al-
though reduced to inactivity at Newcastle, and
surrounded by the forces of those northern
barons who had broken their oaths to Matilda,
was able to extricate himself without loss or
dishonour-. While refusing to do homage to
Stephen for his English possessions, by which
he would have recognized the usurped right to
the throne of England, he restored all the lands
and castles of which he had taken possession
dm-ing his inroad. On the other hand, Stephen
agreed to bestow upon young Henry, the son of
David, the eai-ldom of Huntingdon and the
towns of Carlisle and Doncaster, and to take
into consideration the prince's claims to the
eai-ldom of Northumberland in right of his
mother as daughter and hetiess of Waltheof.
Although David refused to do homage to Stephen
for the lands he already possessed in England,
he permitted his son to perform this act of vas-
salage for the new territories conferred ujjon
himself. In this way a new perplexity was
added to the question of the suzerainty of the
kings of England over those of Scotland, and a
fresh claim of exaction for that ten-ible hour of
national reckoning whose coming every act was
now tending to accelerate.

In the present state of affairs a treaty like
that of Newcastle could only be a brief and
uncei-tain truce. A year had elapsed, and the
claims of Prince Henry to Northumberland

EDGAH— ALEXANDER I.— DAVID I.

i.T>. 1097-1153.]

which were to be considered did not seem likely
to be soon concluded. It wa-s to enforce these
claims that David in 1136 resolved to invade
Northumberland, but was pei-suaded by Thure-
tan, Archbishop of York, to desist from hostili-
ties until Stephen's return, who at that time
was in Normandy. At his return the English
king gave a flat refusal to the demands of
David, upon which the latter commenced the
invasion of Northumberland in earnest. The
castle of Werk was besieged, but held out so
successfully that the Scots, who were unable to
take it, vented their rage upon the surrounding
country, which they wasted with relentless bar-
barity. This mood, however, we are carefully
informed, did not extend to the Scottish leadei-s,
who doubtless still retained their old aflection
for the land from which they had emigrated
and the kindred by whom it was occupied, and
of their diligence to stay these excesses the
English historians have given several examples.
On one of these occasions, when the abbey of
Hexham was stormed and plundered by the
Scots, David himself restored to the monks his
own share in the partition of the spoil. At
length Stephen, having found a short interval
in his wars with the adherents of Matilda, flew
northwai'd to oppose the Scots, and found them
encamped in the neighbourhood of Roxburgh.
Avoiding an encounter with an army of which,
it is alleged, the leadere were in correspondence
with some of his own treacherous nobles, he
crossed the Tweed in another direction and car-
ried on the war upon the Scottish Border until
want of provisions compelled him to retreat.

These indecisive incursions and reprisals were
but preludes to more important events. The
principal champion in England of the cause of
Matilda was Robert, Earl of Gloucester and
illegitimate son of Henry I., who having con-
certed with David a fresh Scottish invasion by
promising to support it with all the nobles of
his party and Matilda at their head, had gone
abroad to the residence of his half-sister for the
purpose of bringing her to England. At the
appointed time, and fully expecting their co-
operation, David renewed his Northumbrian
invasion and advanced to the neighbourhood of
Durham. His troops on this occasion were so
various in race and so diversified in appearance,
but withal so much at one in their deeds of
ferocity and plunder, that the monkish Latin of
the old English historians sinks under them
when they attempt to describe these swarms of
" Scottish ants " — these legions of a " barbarous
and impure nation."' It was such a miscella-

107

' Matthew Paris. Gesta Stephani. The enumeration
comprises Normans, Oermans, Northumbrians, Strathclyde

neous array as had marched under the banner
of Malcolm Canmore, but with sundry sti\inge
additions which were of later arrival into Scot-
land. The first specimen of the insubordination
which must prevail among such a host was
aflbrded by the wild Scots of Galloway, who
being checked in one of theii' excesses near
Durham, broke out into revolt and threatened
to murder the king and his attendants. They
were only arrested in their desperate attempt
by a cry that the English were upon them ;
and this alarm, probably raised on purpose,
was enough to occasion a temporary retreat of
the whole army. Soon after they defeated a
body of the English at Clitheroe, took the castle
of Norham, and advanced to the neighbour-
hood of Northallerton. And still Stephen was so
closely employed in quelling the seditious bai'ons
of the south of England that he coxild send no
aid to the counties of York and Northumber-
land except a body of cavalry under the com-
mand of Bernard de Baliol. But the advance
of David was also impeded by the delay of the
Earl of Gloucester, who had not yet landed in
England; while the invaded coimties, recover-
ing from their panic, resolved to rely on their
own resources. In this bold resolution they
were confii-med by the stout-hearted Thurstan,
Aj-chbishop of York, who though worn out with
yeare and infirmity, was the soul of the con-
federacy. To give this defence of their liber-
ties and homes tlie character of a holy war
the people of the parishes of his diocese were
marched out in religious procession by their
priests at his command, bearing crosses, holy
relics, and consecrated bannera, and commanded
to take arms in defence of Christ's church
against the barbarians, while paradise was pro-
mised to those who fell and freedom to those
who survived. In like manner Thureton as-
sembled the barons at York, with whom he
fasted three days, and bestowed upon them his-
pastoral blessing, with the banner of St. Peter
brought out for the purpose fiom the cathedral
of York, and his episcopal crozier, which was
to be theii' symbol of command and leading-staff
of battle. AU being thus animated with the
highest of motives, the conduct of the force that
was speedily assembled was wisely placed under
Walter I'Espec, a veteran warrior of high repu-
tation and experience.

On aproaching the Scottish encampment
I'Espec resolved to try the effect of negotiation

Britons, the men of Teviotdale and Lothian, the Oallo-
wcgians, the Islesmen, and the clans of Lorn. The Babel of
languages— French, Teutonic, Danish, Celtic, with the dif-
ferent dialects of each that must have been used among
them— was sutllciently indicative of a final dispersion even
though no enemy had interposed.

108

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

,D. 1097-1153.

before putting all to the hazard of the sword.
He therefore sent as his ambassadors two Eng-
lish nobles whose family names were afterwards
to form so essential a part of the history of
Scotland ; these were Robert de Bruce and Ber-
nard de Baliol. Bruce, who was now an old
man, had been the affectionate friend as well as
devoted vassal of David, the upholder of his
rights while Prince of Cumberland, and after-
wards his faithful friend and counsellor when
the prince became King of Scotland. The barons
offered as a condition of peace to procure from
Stephen a grant of the earldom of Northumber-
land to Henry, David's son, but this projiosal
was rejected with disdain. That county was
already overrun, and David may have con-
sidered it as his own, and his honour and good
faith as an English baron were pledged to those
oaths of fealty which the rest of the nobility
had broken. Finding that they could not pre-
vail, these nobles renounced their homage to
David for the lands they held in Scotland and
returned to Catton Moor, near Northallerton,
where the English were encamped. After a few
movements in either army, and when a hostile
collision was hourly expected, Bruce again re-
paired to the Scottish king and made a last
effort to move him. He described the savage
character and atrocities of a Scottish invasion,
and entreated David in the name of religion
and humanity to turn his thoughts to peace.
He suggested the resolute character of those
whom he was about to attack, and warned him
of the danger of driving them to despair; and
bursting into tears at the picture which the
suggestion called up, the brave old warrior thus
continued : " To see my dearest master, my
patron and benefactor, my friend and my com-
panion in arms, with whom I spent the season
of youth and festivity, and in whose service I
am grown old — to see him thus exposed to the
dangers of battle or to the dishonour of flight,
it wrings my heart." David also wept, but still
continued his refusal, upon which Bruce once
more renounced his homage to the Scottish king,
and rejoined those ranks that had the chief claim
to his services.

In the meantime all was confidence and alac-
rity in the English camp. The episcopal blessing
and absolution had animated the soldiers, and
banished every fear of danger or discomfiture;
and to confirm the sacred chai-acter of their war-
fare, a high four-wheeled chariot was placed in
the midst of the encampment, and rising from
it was a tall ship's mast on which streamed the
banners of St. Peter of York, St. John of
Beverley, and St. Wilfrid of Ripon, while at
the top was a little casket containing a con-
secrated host. It was the same sort of carroccio

which had been introduced about a century
earlier in the wars of Lombardy ; and while its
towering form, conspicuous over the whole field
of battle, served as the most eflectual rallying-
point for an imperfectly disciplined an-ay, its
consecrated emblems were certain to rouse every
feeling of religious zeal as well as chivalrous
determined courage in the hearts of its brave
defenders. But very different from this unani-
mity was the spirit that prevailed among their
invaders. David had resolved to commence the
attack with the choicest part of his army, which
consisted of Norman men-at-arms and archers;
but these strangers, who had lately been sub-
jects of the King of England, were regarded
with malignant jealousy by the men of Gal-
loway, who had signalized themselves in the
inroad, and now claimed the honour of com-
mencing the onset. " Whence comes the mighty
confidence of these Normans 1" cried Malise,
Earl of Strathearu, indignantly; "I myself wear
no armour, yet they who do shall not advance
farther than I this day!" The lie was given in
his throat by Alan de Piercie of the proud house
of Northumberland. " Earl," he exclaimed,
" you boast of what you dare not perform ! "
The Norman and Celtic rivalry seemed ready
to contest the quarrel in the very presence of
the common enemy who would have laughed at
their mutual destruction, when David prudently
allayed the strife by conceding to the Gallowe-
gians the honour of leading the van. The second
rank was composed of the Norman cavalry and
archers under the command of Prince Henry,
aided by the military experience of Fitzjohn,
lately an Anglo-Norman baron and conmiauder
of the castle of Bamborough, who had shifted
his allegiance from England to Scotland with
the easy fealty of the period. The third
rank was composed of the men of Lothian, the
volunteers of Teviotdale, and the men of the
Isles ; while the reserve under the king's own
command consisted of the Celtic Scots, the in-
habitants of Moray, and a body-guard of Nor-
mans and Englishmen. In this array, and with
weapons as various as the races to which they
belonged, from the small round target of the
naked Celt to the complete panoply of the
Norman knight, the Scottish army, amounting
to twenty-five thousand men, advanced to battle.
The English, warned of their approach, rallied
as one man around the car from which the titular
Bishopof Orkney, whom Thurstan had appointed
as his deputy, dispensed absolution, and exhorted
the army to fight bravely. "Illustrious chiefs
of England," he said, addressing the knights
and nobles; "by blood and race Normans, be-
fore whom bold France trembles, to whom fierce
England has submitted, under whom Apulia

A.D. 1097-1153.]

EDGAR— ALEXANDEK I.— DAVID I.

109

has been restored to her station, and \Those
names are famous at Antioch and Jerusalem —
here are the Scots, who have done liomage to
you, undertaking to drive you from your pos-
sessions." " I swear," exclaimed Walter I'Espec,
the commander, " that on this day I will over-
come the Scots or perish." "So swear we all,"
cried the assembled barons in reply.

The battle was commenced by the wild Scots
of Galloway. Shouting their war-cry, "Al-
bauich! Albanich!" they threw themselves head-
long upon the main body of English infantry,
whose front ranks they pierced with the im-
petuosity of their onset. But their naked bodies
were defeuceless against the shafts with which
they were plied by the English archers, and
the long slender spears that formed then- chief
oflFensive weapons were unavailing against the
armour of the Norman men -at -anus, who
checked their onward career and encountered
them hand to hand. After a desperate but
hopeless struggle in which their leadera Ulgric
and Davenal were killed, the men of Galloway
■were borne backward and thrown into disorder.
It was now the time for Prince Henry at the
head of the second line to act, and this he did
with so impetuous a charge that the English
phalanx was "rent asunder like a cobweb;" and,
pursuing his advantage too eagerly, he fell upon
the troops in the rear, thus separating himself
from the main battle, where his presence was
most needed. The GaUowegians ndlied ; the
third line advanced to support them ; but still
the English yeomanry and Norman knights
and men-at-arms continued an obstinate resis-
tance through a two-houiV fight, and as often
as they were driven back they gathered into
an impenetrable phalanx around the caniage
with its holy ensigns. While the battle was
thus maintained on even terms a stratagem
turned the fortune of the day in behalf of Eng-
land: this was occa-^ioned by an English soldier
cutting off the head of one of the slain, placing
it on the toj) of a pike, and crying, as lie held
it triumpliantly aloft, "Behold the head of the
King of Scotland !" The shallow device suc-
ceeded : the GaUowegians gave way, the third
line fled without striking a blow, and David
himself, after a hopeless elFort to raOy the fugi-
tives, was forced off tlie field by the att'ectionate
zeal of his own nobles. With difficulty he
readied Carlisle with the remains of his army,
now ;dmost reduced to half their number, as the
inhabitants of tlie country, exasperated at the
excesses of this invasion, rose everywliere upon
the fugitives in their retreat. For several days
David remained anxious about the fate of his
gallant son, who had not appeared since the
conflict; but the young prince, when he saw

that all was lost, had saved himself by ordering
his followers to throw away their banners and
p-etend to join in the pui-suit, by which means
they all at length reached Carlisle in safety.

Such was the conflict of Northallerton (Aug. 2,
1138), commonly called the Battle of the Stand-
ard. It was the first great trial of arms between
the two rival nations ; the commencement of a
series of encounters that was to go onward for
centuries with scarcely an intermission ; and as
such the early historians of England have been
both ample and minute in describing it.^ At
this great opening of the drama, also, we can
distinctly trace the character of the contending
parties, and in some measure anticipate the
aspect of coming events. In the movements of
the Scots especially we see the dissensions and
rivalries by which their future operations were
so often impeded and theii' successes negatived
— the uncalculating rashness that so frequently
hurried them onward to discomfiture, as well as
the obstinate valoirr that finally secured their
national liberties when every other hope had
departed.

Defeated though he was, David was yet able
to act on the offensive; and after having stilled
the dissensions of his rallied forces, where each
clan or tribe threw the blame on its rival, and
having bound all parties by a solemn oath never
to desert him in battle, he led them from Carlisle
to the siege of Werk, the castle of the victorious
Walter I'Espec. The formidable attitude which
he was still able to maintain, as well as the help-
less condition of the Northumbrian and York-
shire barons, is attested by the fact that David
reduced the castle by famine and razed it to
the ground, after which he retiu-ned uninter-
rupted to Scotland. A peace soon followed,
chiefly through the mediation of Maud, the
wife of Stephen and niece of the King of Scot-
land, in which David may be said to have
secured the advantages of a decisive victory.
The point of contest, which was the eaildom of
Northimiberland, wasconceded to Prince Henry,
the bai-ons of the earldom to hold their lands of
Henry saving their allegiance to the English
king ; and although the fortresses of Newcastle
and Bamborough were retained by Stephen, an
equivalent of lands in the .south of England was
granted to David in their stead. In return for
these concessions Scotland was to remain neuti-al
in the contest of Stephen with Matilda, and five
hostages, the sons of the principal Scottish
nobles, were given to Stephen to ratify this
promise. This treaty was signed by Prince

1 Matthew Paris. Aldred de Bella Stattdardi in T«isden'«
Decent Scriplores. Richard and John of Hexham. Henry
of Huntingdon. Aldred, nlio lived at the court of David,
is abundant in particulars of this national contest

110

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Henry at Nottingham, after which he accom-
panied Stephen to the siege of the castle of
Ludlow, where he was unhoi-sed in an encounter,
but gallantly rescued by the English king.'
After the siege he drew this alliance with Eng-
land stiU closer by marrying Ada, daughter of
the Earl of Warrene and Surrey, a lady related
to some of the noblest families both of England
and France. On returning homeward after this
mamage Henry and his bride would have been
taken prisoners by an ambush laid for them by
Eanulph, Earl of Chester, had it not been for the
kind interposition of Stephen, who frustrated
the design. Eanulph had claims either real or
imaginary to the lordship of the castle of Carlisle
and its surroimding territory, which, however,
had been given up to Prince Hemy by the
treaty of 1135-36, and in this way, so accordant
with the spirit of the age when the possession
of the fair lands of England were in question,
the earl endeavoured to recover what he alleged
to be his own. Baulked in his pui-]50se, he went
over to the party of Matilda, and became one of
Stephen's bitterest enemies.

The coui-se of events in England soon inter-
rupted the friendly relations which had been
established between the two kingdoms. Near the
end of September (1139) the long-delayed arri-
val of Matilda took place, who was accompanied
only by her half-brother, the Earl of Gloucester,
and a train of about a hundred and forty knights.
But ridiculous though such a force was for the
invasion of a kingdom, the discontent of the
English nobles, whose exorbitant demands the
king was unable to fulfil, quickly swelled this
train into an army, by which Stephen was de-
feated at Lincoln, deposed, and thrown into
prison. Matilda was now full sovereign of
England, as her ambitious father had wished ;
but her ai-rogant behaviour and harsh proceed-
ings soon justified the English nobles in their
dislike of a s^e-king, and made them plot for
the restoration of their brave, open-hearted,
magnanimous Stephen. Scai-cely, therefore, had
her coronation robes been prepared when she was
driven from London. Soon after her arrival in
England David, stiU mindful of his oaths and
relationship, had repaired to the court of Ma-
tilda, and endeavoured to coiTect her unwise
proceedings by his wisdom and experience, but
in vain; she received his admonitions with scorn,

1 Henry of Huntingdon and Matthew Paris, who are the
authorities for this incident, say that the prince was caught
by an iron hook, which drew liim from his horse and almost
made him prisoner. According to the latter historian the
hook, which was let do%vn from the wall, had almost hoisted
the prince into the fortress, when he was recovered by the
gallantry of .Stephen. Such cramp-irons have been of use in
the rude periods of most countries both in the capture and
defence of strongholds.

[a.d. 1097-1153.

and continued to reject them even after she was
driven from the capital. David accompanied
her in her flight, was besieged with her in the
castle of Winchester, and escaped with her from
the exhausted fortress when the assailants were
keeping the festival of the Holy Rood, a season
when military operations were wont to be sus-
pended. So full of danger and difficulty was
their flight from Winchester, and so closely were
they pursued, that death or captivity would have
been their portion but for the devotedness of a
band of gallant knights, who gave battle to their
pursuers at Stourbridge, and continued their
resistance until they were all cut down or taken
prisoners, that the royal fugitives might have
time to escape. Matilda reached the castle of
Devizes, and was able to continue the war. As
for David, his chief endeavour was to reach
Scotland in safety thi'ough a hostile population,
and this he efl'ected after several hair's-breadth
escapes. In one of these, being surrounded by
the enemy, he was only saved by the dexterity,
presence of mind, and courage of a soldier in the
army of Stephen, who happened to be no other
than David Oliphant, a Scot, and godson of the
king.

On returning to Scotland David wisely aban-
doned all further interference in English affaire,
and devoted himself wholly to the welfare of
his subjects. This provident design, however,
was not without interruption. An English
monk named Wimund, after a rambling life of
penury and shifts, had settled in the Isle of Man,
where his tall comely figure, eloquence, learning,
and ingratiating manners won so gi-eatly upon
the barbarous Manxmen that they chose him
for their bishop. This, however, was not the
sort of elevation that could satisfy so restless
and ambitious a spirit as Wimund, and he pre-
tended to be the son of Angus, Earl or Kegulua
of Moray, who had rebelled against David, a.d.
1 130, and been defeated and slain at Strickathro.
His assertions were maintained with such plau-
sibility that he soon found himself at the head
of a fleet and army, while Someiled, Lord of
Argyle, bestowed upon him his daughter in
marriage. Thus supported, he made war upon
the Scottish coasts in the style of a sea-king,
while his skill and valour made him such a
formidable antagonist that the whole country
was alarmed by his piratical visits. His aim in
all probability was not merely to be Earl of
Moray, but also the head and rallying-point of
a Celtic confederacy against the Norman and
Anglo-Saxon ascendency in Scotland. After
various successes this Perkin Warbeck of a rude
age attempted to levy contributions upon the
lands of a certain Scottish prelate, who boldly
replied in answer to the demand, " I will never

i.D. 1097-1153.]

EDGAE— ALEXANDER I.— DAVID I.

Ill

set the example of one bishop paying tribute to
another;" and to make good hia words, he ad-
vanced at the head of a small force against this
belligerent Bishop of Man. He commenced the
onset by throwing his light battle-axe at the
head of Wimnnd, and with such good aim that
it felled the marauder to the ground; and in the
battle that followed, the pirates were so com-
pletely defeated that only a few escaped to
their ships with their wounded leader. But
the career of Wimund was not yet ended. He
contrived to gather new partisans, and make
himself so foi-midable that the king was obliged
to purchase his forbearance by a full pardon
and the grant of a certain portion of tenitory.
In this new situation, however, Wimund could
not be at rest; his tyrannical conduct was odious
to his vassals, and after a short time they rose
against him, deprived him of his eyes, emas-
culated him, and delivered him into the hands
of David, by whom he was subjected to a long
imprisonment in the castle of Roxburgh. He
was finally pardoned, and thereafter retired to
the monastery of Bilaud in Yorkshire, where he
spent the rest of his days not in penitence and
mortification, but comfort and jollity, while he
amused his brother monks with tales of his
strange adventures. " Had my enemies," he was
wont to say, " but left me as much light as could
be received by the eye of a sparrow, they would
have little cause to boast of the injuries they
have done me."'

While these troubles occasioned by Wimund
were occupying the fuU attention of David,
Stephen continued to maintain an uncertain
sway in England ; for MatUda was still alive,
and her son, Henry Plantagenet, who would
inherit her claims, was already indicating, al-
though still a boy, those remarkable talents
which afterwards made him the gi-eatest sove-
reign of his age. In the year 1149, when he
had now reached the age of sixteen, young
Plantagenet crossed the seas from Normandy
to the Scottish com-t to receive knighthood at
the hands of his uncle David, and the impoi-t-
ant Ceremony was performed at the ancient city
of Carlisle with gi-eat pomji and rejoicing. At
this meeting also a compact was made by which
Henry swore that on becoming King of Eng-
land he would restore Newcastle to David and
give up the whole temtory between the Tweed
and the Tyne to him and his heire for ever.
Ralph, Earl of Chester, at the s;ime time re-
nounced in favour of Scotland his ancient pre-
tensions to Carlisle, and was to be requited
with the earldom of Lancaster, while an infant

< W. Ncwb.; Matt Paris; Fordun. The last hUtorian
glTCB to Wimund tlie Celtic name of Malcolm MacHeth.

granddaughter of the Scottish king was to be
given in marriage to the son of Ralph when she
became of age. The residt of this compact was
that the Scottish king, the English prince, and
the earl were to muster theu- forces and invade
England at an appointed time, for the purpose
of dethroning Stephen. But when the season
had arrived and David and Henry commenced
their inroad, the Eaii of Chester broke his en-
gagement, while the approach of Stephen com-
pelled them to retreat into Scotland.

In the year 1152 a mournful event occurred
not only to David as a father but the kingdom
at large. This was the death of his only son
Henry, who expired on the 12th of June. His
gallantry and talents for war had been exlii-
bited in the Battle of the Standard; and his
other qualities obtained for him the high com-
mendation that in mannere he was still more
gentle than his father, while in everything else
he resembled him.^ Besides the loss to the
whole nation of a future sovereign of such pro-
mise, the bereavement was embittered by the
thought of the interregnum which it would oc-
casion in so unsettled a country and at such a
dangerous period. By his princess, Ada, Heni-y
had three sons — Malcolm, WOliam, and Da^-id,
of whom the two fii-st were successively kings
of Scotland — and three daughters. After the
death of Piince Henry, Davi<l fixed the succes-
sion to the crown by sending his gi-andson,
Malcolm, in royal progress through the king-
dom, and causing him to be proclaimed heir to
the throne at aU the piincipal towns. He also
invested his second grandson, William, with the
territories he held in Northumberland, exacting
the usual homage of the barons of that tenitoiy
to the young prince, and taking hostages for
their fidelity.

As the long reign of David was chiefly of a
peaceful character its history is to be sought in
his uiternal atlministration and his proceedings
as a legislator and judge. And here the par-
ticiUara have been so fully given by his friend
and panegj'rist Aldred, that our knowledge of
David I. both in his public and jirivate cajjacity
is more intimate than that we have obtained
of any of his predecessoi-s. His chai-acter as a
religious sovereign is the chief aspect under
which he has been presented to our notice.
Like the illustrious King of Israel whose hon-
oured name he bore, he had shed much blood ;
and although a single campaign had summed
up the principal amount of his military achieve-
ments, he reflected with keen remorse upon the
wild havoc and massacre with which it had
been accompanied. Under these feelings he had

112

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-1153.

resolved to expiate his guUt in the mauner that
■was at that time a univei'sal enthusiasm, by
abandoning his crown, assuming the red cross
of a crusader, and warring in Palestine for the
recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. But the vu-gent
necessities of his unsettled kingdom detained
him in Scotland, and his penitence was thei-e-
fore expressed in the other alternative of that
stirring and struggling age of superetition — the
buOding of churches and endowment of reli-
gious houses.' In this way he founded the
bishopric of Eoss, and probably those of
Brechin and Dunblane, while he enriched the
revenues of those that had been already estab-
lished. He transferred the bishopric of Murt-
lach to the city of Aberdeen and added largely
to its endoviTnents. He erected Dunk eld into
an episcopal see by converting its old monastery
of Culdees into a cathedral. But it was of the
abbeys of Scotland that he was especially the
nureing father, and the list of those which he
founded would be too long to give in full. It
is enough, however, to specify as examples the
monastic establishments of HoljTood, Melrose,
Jedburgh, Kelso, and Dryburgh. This zeal for
the establishment of religion on the surest basis,
according to the reckoning of the period, David
appeai-s to have commenced with his reign, but
to have increased with double ardour and liber-
ality towai-ds its close. Little could he calculate
either upon the industry of those monks that
could convert the myriads of barren acres which
he alienated from the royal revenues into rich
gardens and fertile corn-liekis and pastures ; or
the reaction which all this luxurious abundance
would produce upon their pampered and idle
successore. "David I. was ane sotr sanct for the
crown," said James I. demurely, nearly three
centuries afterwai'ds, when the saintship of his
predecessor was quoted and its proofs instanced
in the richest portions of the soil of Scotland
invested in the church, and from which he could
therefore derive no revenue. To this taunt
David might have answered in a sepulchral voice
and amidst the midnight solitudes of Holyrood,
that he had acted according to the best wisdom
of the age, and erred with Chai'lemagne and
Alfred.

In his political admiuistration this wise and
good king was more fortunate, and with more
permanent results. This was effected by his
anxious endeavom's to enlarge his kingdom and
secure it with a strong frontier, as well as by

1 In the MSS. Cupr. et Perth quoted in Fordun we are
also told that he built at great expense and riclily en-
dowed certain hospices for the reception of the sick and
the poor, and lazar-houses for lepers — " which like all other
such things," the wTiter adds with a groan, "are now con-
verted by secular abuse into a den of thieves."

his encoui'agement to those immigi-ations of
superior races by which its power and resources
were augmented and its civilization rapidlj' ad-
vanced. In dispensing justice as chief magistrate
of the realm, the description which Aldred has
given carries us back in imagination to the
simple jieasant-kings of ancient Greece, or even
to the more early patriarchs of the East. David,
he tells us, sat at the gate of his palace on cer-
tain appointed days to hear cases of complaint
and decide controversies; and on these occa-
sions he was careful to give satisfaction by
explaining the causes of his decision. He was
also fond of hunting ; " but I have seen him,"
sa}'s Aldred, "quit his horee and dismiss his
hunting equipage when any even of the meanest
of liis subjects implored an audience." How
different this from William the Conqueror and
his son Eufus, who laid waste whole counties
that they might have a hunting forest, and
visited with capital punishment all who mo-
lested the deer ! At sunrise he commenced the
duties of the day and dismissed liis attendants
at sunset, when he employed himself in medita-
tion and devotion. A gentle trait of character
that distinguished him from contemporary sove-
reigns was his attachment to the humanizing
studies of horticulture, and his leisure houi-s
were frequently employed in cultivating his
garden and trying experiments in the budding
and ingrafting of trees — " that he might pro-
voke his rude subjects by his example to do
the same." Few sovereigns also possessed such
powers of affectionate, condescending, intelli-
gent intercourse, so that all departed from his
presence wiser and happier from the interview-^
Such, indeed, were David's excellences that Bu-
chanan while contemplating them seems utterly
to have forgot his own stern republicanism.
"As he equalled the most excellent of the for-
mer kings in his warlike achievements" — thus
writes the eloquent historian — " and excelled
them in his cultivation of the ai'ts of peace, at
last, as if he had ceased to contend with others
for pre-eminence in vii-tue, he endeavoured to
rival himself; and in this he so succeeded, that
the utmost ingenuity of the most learned, who
shoidd attempt to delineate the poi-trait of
a good king, would not be able to conceive one
so excelleut as David during his whole life
evinced himself." The close was in keeping with
the whole tenor of his life. After having de-

2 "Denique si contingeret ut sacerdos vel miles, vel
monachus, dives vel pauper, civis vel peregrinus, negotia-
tor vel rusticus, cum eo sermonem h.aberet, ita cum singu-
lis, de suis negotiis et otficiis, convenienter et humiliter
disserebat, ut singulus quisque sua eum tantum curare
putaret ; et sic omnes jucundos et sedificatos dimitteret." —
Fordun, lib. v. cap. 49.

A.D. 1153-1-214.]

MLALCOLM IV.— WILLIAM THE LION.

113

voted his latter days so entirely in preparation
for a higher crown and happier existence that
the veneration of his subjects was if possiljle
increased, he was found dead in his bed, but
with so tranquil a countenance that he seemed

as if he stiU lived, and with his hands closed
upon his breast, showing that he had passed
away iu the midst of ])rayer. This was on the
morning of the 24th of May, 1153, when he had
reigned twenty-nine yeai's and a few days.

CHAPTER II.

KEIGXS OF MALCOLM IV. .\ND WILLT.\M THE LIOX (1153-1214).

Minority of Malcolm IV. — Revolt and invasion of Somerled — Interview between Malcolm and Henry II. —
Malcolm's rash concessions — He follows Henry to France — Rebellions in Scotland — Death of Malcolm r\'.,
termed the Maiden — His character — William the Lion succeeds to the throne — Alliance between Scotland
and France — William joins the rebeUion of Henry's sons against their father — He invades England — Taken
prisoner at Aln\vick — Hard terms of his liberation — The Scottish church escapes the national vassalage —
Its resistance to the claims of the English piimates — Distui'bances in Galloway — William's controversy
with the Pope on the appointment of a bishop to St. Andrews — Its termination in favour of Wilham —
Marriage of William — Insun-ection of Donald — Independence of the Scottish church proclaimed by the
Pope — Richard, King of England, absolves Scotland from its vassalage — Terms of the release — The Earl
of Huntingdon joins the Crusade — His adventures — William's quarrels and negotiations with John, King
of England — Death of WiUiam the Lion — His character.

Scotland was now for the first time to be
visited with a calamity which was often re-
peated: she was to have a boy for her sovereign.
It was the natural consequence of the law of
royal succession which had superseded that of
Tanisti-y, and which, with all its benefits, was
necessarily accompanied with an evil that iu
days of old Heaven had denounced as a curse
upon the nations that merited a grievous na-
tional punishment.

We have already mentioned that on the
death of Prince Henry his eldest son Malcolm
had been proclaimed successor to the crown
during the life of liis grandfather David. The
Saxon rule of direct occupation was now so
firmly established that the youth ascended the
throne without opposition, although only twelve
years old, and was the fouith of the name who
had filled it.

The first of the inevitable evils of such a
minority arose from Somerled, Lord of Aigyle
and the Hebrides, a chief of almost regal power,
and whose subjection to the Scottish crown, if
at all acknowledged, was little more than
nominal. It appeara that no sooner had he
heard of the death of David than he resolved
to make a descent ujion the mainland fi>r the
purposes of piracy and plunder ; and to give a
colour of justice to his invasion, he pretended
to be in arms for the rights of his grand-
children, the sons of the adventurer Wimund,
to whom he had given his daughter iu mar-
riage. The landing of Somerled occurred iu
November 5, 1153; and although we are un-

acquainted with the mischiefs it occasioned,
these must have been of no small account, as
the peace which soon after followed gave a date
to several of the Scottish charters of the
peiiod under the title of the " Concord of the
King and Somerled." Donald, the son of
Wimund, was taken prisoner, and confined in
the ca.stle of Roxburgh ; but Somerled, who re-
newed his destructive invjisions, was not pacified
until some time aftei-wards. It was not till a
considerably later period of Scottish history
that these dangerous and powerfiU Lords of the
Isles wei-e reduced to the condition of subjects.
But the chief danger to Malcolm IV. and
his government arose fi'om the ambition of
Henry II., who succeeded to the crown of Eng-
land by the death of Stephen in a.d. 1154. On
his accession he not only forgot the oaths he
had sworn to Da^nd that he woidd give up the
whole country between the Tyne and the Tweed
to Scotland ; but he also demanded the restitu-
tion of those territories in England that were
already held by the Scottish sovereign. A
meeting took place upon the subject between
the two kings at Chester ; but Malcolm, still a
minor, was no match in negotiation for the
astute Henry, who had aheady commenced
tliat career of aggrandizement by which he be-
came the most powerful sovereign of the age.
Malcolm, therefore, was easily pereuaded not
only to do homage to the King of England,
"saving all his dignities," but to cede to Eng-
land his jwssessious iu the northern counties,
contenting himself with the very unequal i-e-

114

HISTORY OF SCOTLA^'D.

quitax of the earldom of Huntingdon. Treachery
appeal's to have been practised upon him on this
occasion, and his counselloi-s are alleged to have
been corrupted with English gold.' Henry had
also a hold upon Malcolm that originated in
the chivalrous usages of the age. Before a king
could be crowned it was deemed necessary
that he should i-eceive the honour of knight-
hood, and the young Scottish sovereign was
eager to obtain it from the royal hand of his
English senior. For this empty but highly
valued honour Malcolm, with the rashness and
inexjierience of youth, was not only ready to
humble himself before his rival and yield to his
demands, but even to become the soldier of
Hem-y, and embark with Urn in those foreign
wars with which he had no national connection.
He accordingly repaired with the English army
to France, where he had for fellow-soldiere
Raymond, King of Arragon, a Welsh prince,
and the renowned Thomas <i Becket, not yet
either saint or archbishop, but a gallant warrior
full of knightly enterprise ; and to reward the
compliance of the young Scottish king, Hem-y
there conferred upon him the coveted distinc-
tion. But in thus gaining knighthood Malcolm
had almost lost his throne. The Scottish nobles,
indignant at the concessions of their king, and
feeling their country reduced to vassalage by
his service under the English banner, sent to
him a deputation while he was in France, with
the significant declaration that they would not
accept Henry for their ruler. This message
hastened the return of Malcolm, but it was only
to encounter the fuU brunt of their indignation;
for, on holding a parliament at Perth, the Earl
of Strathearn and five other nobles attempted
to seize the pei^son of the king. He escaped to
a tower, which they unsuccessfully assailed, and
at last the wild revolt was stilled by the inter-
position of the clergy.

About the same period that this rebellion was
suppressed another bi-oke out in those exten-
sive districts at that time comprised under the
name of Galloway. Its wild inhabitants, the
most untamed of the Celtic population, had
hitherto lived under their own laws and chief-
tains; and although they partially acknow-
ledged submission to the Scottish crown, they
regarded the progress of the Saxon population
with jealousy and rage. In 1160 these feelings
broke out into open warfai-e, encouraged, it is
probable, by the dissensions that prevailed be-
tween the king and his nobility. But this out-
break of a common enemy must have tended to
reconcile these dissensions, and the nobles so
lately in arms against their sovereign found

^ Fordun, lib. viii. c. 3.

[a.D. 1153-1-214.

ample occupation among the swamps and forests
of the revolted pro\'ince. Malcolm invaded Gal-
loway, but in two encomiters was defeated. A
third attempt was more successful, and was
crowned with so signal a defeat of the GaUo-
wegians, that Fergus their chief submitted, gave
his son XJchtred as a hostage to the king, and
retii'ed from the world to the Abbey of Holy-
rood, where he assumed the habit of a canon-
regular, and died the following year.

A similar rebellion, and from the same rivalry
of dissimilar and hostile races, quickly followed
in Morayshire, whose Celtic inhabitants had
never been reconciled to the Saxon innovations
and the race of Malcolm Canmore. But they,
too, were conquered and reduced to submission
by the vigour of Malcolm. The character given
of them by Fordun is, that they could neither
be allured by gifts, bound by treaties, nor in-
fluenced by oaths; but this picture, which would
apjjly to the Danes of the age of Raguar Lod-
brog or of Guthrun, is so peculiai-ly a?i-Celtic
that we may suspect the historian of gross mis-
take or downright exaggeration.

The only other important movement which
occurred during the reign of Malcolm IV. ai'ose
from an invasion of Somerled, the Lord of the
Isles, who had resumed liis hostile attempts
upon Scotland, and (a.d. 1164) entered the Clyde
with a formidable armament which he landed
at Renfrew. His forces, which on this occasion
were very numerous, were not drawn from
Ar-gyle and the Hebrides alone, but from Ire-
land and other quartei-s: it seems, indeed, to
have been a great struggle upon the oft- renewed
question of supremacy between Celt and Saxon.
He was completely defeated, however, on his
landing by a small array of the inhabitants of
the district, and both he and his son GiUecolane
were left among the dead.^

The death of Malcolm followed on the 28th
of December, 1165, at Jedbm-gh, while he was
yet only twenty-four yeai-s old. He was called
Malcolm the Maiden; and it is said that he
obtained this title, so honoured in those days
when monkish celibacy was of recent imposition
in Scotland, by obserwng through life the strict
continence of Edward the Confessor. But he
scai-cely can be claimed for the convent, as it is
certain that he had at least one natural child,
a son, who died during his young father's life-
time. Following out the .same idea of monastic
continence, they endow him with the other
attributes of a perfect monk, and describe him
as mild, gentle, inoifensive, and almost wholly
devoted to religious contemplation. And yet
when we study his character in his actions we

' Chron. Metros, p. 169.

A.D. 1153-1214.]

MALCOLM IV.— WILLIAM THE LION.

11.5

find him a rash but gallant wan-ior, bold and
active in his movements, successful in liis at-
tempts, and ripening into the full promise
of a skilful leader and wise politician. It is
prob.able, therefore, that his title '"tlie ilaiden,"
upon which so much has been attempted to be
established, may have originated in nothing
more than a delicate complexion or comely
countenance, at a period when such surnames
were common as personal cognomens.

On the death of Malcolm IV. his younger
brother William was crowned on the 24th of
December, 1 1 65. His first endeavour as King of
Scotland was to recover Northumberland, which
had been bestowed upon him by his grand-
father David I.; and to effect this object he re-
paired to France, as his brother had done, and
became a soldier under the banner of Henry II.
of England. But Henry of most kings was the
least disposed to relinquish any ten-itorial acqui-
sition which he had once secured, and William in
return for his military services obtained nothing
but empty promises. All that Henry would de-
finitely assent to was a continuation of the truce
with Scotland, which his unsuccessful wars in
Brittany as well as against the Welsh made ne-
cessary for his own interests. At length his eyes
being opened to the true meaning of these de-
lays, William returned to Scotland and adopted
a step which his view of the state of affairs on
the Continent may have suggested as a hopeful
expedient; this was to establish an alliance with
Fi'ance, the confirmed enemy of England, and
whose interests would be most effectually served
upon the Scottish Border by the impediments
that could be thrown in the way of the English
invasions xipon the Continent. Ambassadors
were accordingly sent for that purpose from
Scotland to the French court, and that alliance
between the two kingdoms was for the first
time commenced which continued for centuries,
and was productive of such impoi-taut conse-
quences, especiallj' to the poorer and weaker
kingdom. Never did the selfish and calculating
Henry II. more effectually overreach himself
than in the case of those short-sighted measures
by which he compelled Scotland, already almost
an English kingdom, to renounce its island
brotherhood with the south and have recourse
to aliens and strangers.

In the meantime William still continued on
terms of peace with Henry, and in 1170 he
repaired to England with his brother David,
Earl of Huntingdon, and held Easter with the
King of England and his nobles in the stately
halls of Windsor. Here also David received
knighthood from Henry; and on the eldest sou
of the latter being crowned as King of England,
thus rashly anticipating his succession, the Scot-

tish king and prince paid the usual homage to
the jimior potentate for their English teiTi-
tories, at the requirement of the rash and over-
fond father. But in sjjite of these compliances
William could not obtain the restitution of
Northumberland, and he retired indignantly to
Scotland, where he waited the opportunity of
revenge.

And that opportunity soon came in a form
that might have satisfied the most revengeful.
As if to punish his lust of power and the crimes
by which it was gratified, Henry was unaljle to
rule his own family, and the domestic rebellions
that embittered all the triumphs of William the
Conqueror were repeated, and with aggrava-
tions, by the race of the Plantagenets. Like
William also, Heni-y II. had armed his sons,
Henry, Geoffrey, Eichard, and John, with the
effectual means of rebellion by investing them
with such appanages as made them independent
sovereigns. The first to commence this unholy
warfare was Henry, the junior king, who was
impatient to be king indeed, and who demanded
that either England or Normandy should be
entirrly resigned to his independent rule; while
in this extravagant demand he was backed not
only by the King of France and a large party
of the nobility of England, but by his own
mother and brothei-s. Encouraged by such ex-
am])les, it is not to be wondered at that William
of Scotland should have joined the unnatural
coalition ; and he may have soothed his con-
science with the hope that in such a strife he
could best secure the independence of his king-
dom and recover the tei-ritories of which it had
been defrauded. The stripling-king welcomed
this valuable ally by conferring upon him a full
gi'ant of Northumberland, and upon his brother
David the earldom of Cambridge. Ujjon this
William, in 1173, invaded England and be-
sieged the castles of AVerk and Carlisle, but
was able to reduce neither of them, while the
excesses of his army only wasted the country
which he sought to make part of his king-
dom, and drove its inhabitants into the ranks
of his enemies. A counter invasion followed, in
which Richard de Lacy, the Justiciary of Eng-
land, crossed the Tweed and inflicted similar
havoc upon the Scottish districts, but without
signalizing his inroad by an engagement. A
truce succeeded these indecisive movements, by
which De Lacy was enabled to defend his sove-
reign's cause in the south ; and this he did so
ett'ectually that he defeated the Earl of Lei-
cester, one of the principal adherents of the
junior-king, and took him prisoner. On being
deprived of their leader, the troops of Leicester
iu\-ited David. Earl of Huntingdon, to take the
command of them, and put him in possession

IIG

niSTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1153-liU.

of the castle of Leicester ; -while King William,
his brother, made a furious irruption into North-
umberland, which he afflicted with wilder havoc
than before.

The cause of the King of England now seemed
■well-nigh hopeless. His eldest son Henry, aided
by the King of France, -was assailing the fron-
tier of Normandy; Geoffrey, his second son, was
in arms against him in Brittany; and Richard,
the thii-d of this unnatm-al brood, was at the
head of a rebellion of the men of Aquitame and
Poitou, and warring as fiercely against his own
father as he did in after years against the un-
believing Saracens. While Henry II. was thus
beset on every side and obliged to confront each
assailant in turn, a messenger fi'om England
arrived with tidings of the Scottish invasion
and a meditated descent from Flandere upon
the English coast. He instantly left his camp
in Poitou and hun-ied homeward, where his
presence was most needed ; but had scarcely
landed at Southampton, sick, fevered, and bro-
ken-heai-ted with the filial ingratitude of his
sons iind disloyalty of his nobles, when he com-
menced his famous penitential pilgiimage to the
tomb of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. His
late soldier, chancellor, and archbishop was now
woi-shipped as a saint; and Henry, who was not
superior to the supei-stitious of the age, was not
only doubly accessible to such feelings in his
present condition, but conscious that his own
resentment and angry words had ai-med the
assassins of Becket. He spent a whole night lq
prayer and weeping at the tomb ; he submitted
his naked back to the scom-ges of the monks of
Canterbury ; and on receiving absolution he
hastened to London for the purpose of making
head against his Scottish and English enemies.
But no sooner had he reached his palace than a
burning fever, the fruit of his late astounding
mortifications and penance, stretched him helj)-
lessly upon a sick bed when his enemies were
strongest and his presence and activity most
required.

During these events William was driving
onward through Northumberland without
mercy or check, and after he had taken several
towns and castles he laid siege to Alnwick.
In the meantime his brave but miscellaneous
ai'my made forays upon the country in every
direction, where they slew and plundered with-
out discrimination. At length a small band of
Yorkshire barons resolved to make a bold effort
for their neighboiu-s of Northumberland, and
although they could muster not more than four
hundred hoi-semeu they set out upon their
perilous adventure under the command of
Eanulph de Glanville, the sherift' of York.
They began their march at daybreak from New-

castle on the 11th of July, and loaded as they
were with complete armour they contrived to
effect a march of twenty-four miles in less than
five hours. On their route so thick a fog arose
that the barons drew bridle and proposed to
return ; but on Bernard de Baliol, one of their
number, reproaching them for faintheartedness,
and vowing that rather than turn back he
would go forward alone, they continued their
jouraey. The fog that had concealed their
approach suddenly dispersed when they came
near Alnwick, and they saw before them the
invested castle, and soon afterwards an open
plain, upon which the King of Scotland and
about sixty or seventy horsemen were careering
in miUtary sport and exercise, apprehending no
hostile interruption. William, on seeing the
approach of the English, at fii-st mistook them
for a detachment of his o\\-n army; but no
sooner did he recognize their banners than, in-
stead of falling back upon the Scottish leaguer,
he couched his lance, and exclaiming, " Now
shall it be seen who are good knights!" he rode
in full tUt against the enemy, followed by his
whole retinue. His chivalrous madness fared
as it merited : he was unhoi-sed at the first shock,
and made prisoner, with nearly all his men,
whOe several of his nobles who were at no great
distance hm-ried to the scene, but only in time
to share his captivity instead of eftecting his
rescue. The English barons quickly retreated
with their prize, whom theysecui-ed that evening
within the walls of Newcastle, and on the fol-
lowing day removed for gi-eater safety to the
castle of Richmond. As for the Scottish army
of Normans, Saxons, Scots, GaUowegians, and
Flemings, who were scattered in marauding
parties over the country, acting with little con-
cert, and each plundering on its own account,
tliey were so dispirited by the loss of their king
that they hurried back to Scotland without
striking a parting blow. They were soon fol-
lowed by David, Earl of Huntingdon, who aban-
doned the castles which he had fortified against
King Henry in Leicestershire, and marched
homewai-d to superintend the distracted atfaii-s
of his own counti-y.

When this brilliant enterprise of the York-
shire barons was achieved at Ahiwick, Henry
was still languishing upon his sickbed. But at
midnight the royal household was awoke by the
sudden aiTival of a page, who brought important
missives for the king, and demanded immediate
access ; and on being bi-ought to the bedside of
Hem-y he announced himself as the servant of
Ranulph de Glan^nUe, and the messenger of
HOod tidings. " Is Ranulph de GlauviUe in
good health?" inquired the king affectionately;
" He is well," replied the youth, " and holds

A.D. 115S-1214.]

ilALCOLM IV.— WILLIAM THE LION.

117

your enemy, the King of Scotland, in hands at
the castle of Richmond in Yorkshire." The
astonished king bade him repeat what he had
said, which the page did, and produced the letter
of his master ; and when Henry had perused it
he leaped out of bed and gave thanks to heaven
witli tears of joy and gratitude. The joyful
shock had flung sickness aside, and he sum-
moned together his friends and counselloi-s, that
they might share in his happiness. This reverse
of good fortune, so singular in itself, was exalted
by the worshippers of Becket into a miracle;
and they alleged that the Scottish king had
been taken prisoner on the day and at the very
hour that Heni-y had submitted his back to the
stripes of the ecclesiastics at Canterbury.' Un-
fortunately for this calculation, the penance had
been done on a Thui-sday and the capture made
on Saturday. On the day after the intelligence
had reached him Henry was in his war-saddle;
and so utterly were the rebellious barons dis-
mayed by the defeat of their allies the Scots,
that castle after castle was yielded to the active
sovereign, and aU chance of a civil war so effec-
tually suppressed that within three weeks Henry
at the head of a numerous army was ready to
cross the seas and make reprisals upon his
foreign enemies in Normandy.

Very different in the meantime was the con-
dition of the captive king of Scotland. He had
assisted in hounding on a parricide brood to war
against their own father ; and he had entered
into their hostile measui'es by a campaign in
England, by which the father was to be de-
throned or even murdered ; but just at the
moment when all seemed to promise a success-
ful termination, he had fallen into the hands of
a justly-indignant enemy through his own boy-
like rashness in a petty skirmish. It was a
severe lesson of retribution and rebuke on which
he had full time to meditate in the solitude of
his prison. But the lai-gest portion of his humi-
liation was yet to come. Henry's flagellation at
the tomb of Becket seems to have taught him
neither Christian charity nor kingly magna-
nimity, and therefore eighteen days after the
CJipture at Alnwick, William of Scotland was
brought before him, not as a royal prisoner but
as an apprehended felon, with his legs tied under
his horse's belly, while the English nobles and
their sovereign looked proudly on. He was
then sent to Falaise in Normandy, and com-
mitted to close custody. Henry having sub-
dued his rebellious sons on the Continent by a
successful campaign, was occupied at the end of
the yejir in prescribing conditions of peace, and
settling the ransom of his prisonei-s ; and while

he liberated the greater part of them on very
easy terms, the heaviest price was exacted from
the captive of Falaise. Henry required that
William should become his liegeman not merely
for the territories he held in England, but for
the crown and kingdom of Scotland ; that he
should suiTender to him the castles of Roxburgh,
Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling;
and that he should give his brother David and
his principal barons as hostages for his faithful
observance of the treaty*. To these extortionate
terms William submitted ; the national assent
was given by the Scottish barons and clergy on
the 8th of December, 1174, in Valogne, and
afterwards at Falaise ; and thus Scotland ceased
for the present to be an independent nation, and
for the first time recognized the feudal supe-
riority of England. It might have been ex-
pected that in such a case the submission of the
Scottish church to that of England, so often a
ground of contention between the two counti'ies,
would have been exacted also, by which the
vassalage would have been complete; but the
clause which was drawn up by the Scottish
clergy to this effect, while it seemed to grant
everything, in reality conceded nothing. It
stated that the Scottish church in time to come
would yield such submission as it "ought of right,
and was wont to pay" in the days of Henry's
predecessore — that it would give that right to
the English church "which in justice it ought
to have." Even in the most trivial act of every-
day chaffering we know what such phrases
mean, and for how much they are valued. The
Archbishop of Yoi-k upon the strength of this
condition could demand nothing more of Scot-
land than it had been hitherto wont to pay, and
that was simply — nothing.

A choice opportunity soon occurred of bring-
ing these ambiguous expressions to the test :
this was A.D. 1176, when Cardinal Huguccio, the
papal legate, assembled a council of the English
church at Northampton. On this occasion not
only Henry II. was present, but also William
of Scotland, and six of his principal bishops.
Henry ordered these prelates " to yield that
obedience to the English church which they
ought to yield, and were wont to yield, in the
days of his predecessor;" but the bishops, who
had no doubt prepared their answer to such a
demand, howsoever proposed, replied lioldly,
that they had never yielded subjection to the
English church, neither ought they. This was
an apjieal to history, u|ion which the whole
merit of the question rested. Roger, Arcliliishop
of York, here asserted, and endeavoured to prove,
that the Bishops of Glasgow and Gallowaj' had
been formerly subject to his see; but to this
Jocelyn, Bishop of Glasgow, replied that by the

118

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1153-1214.

special grace of Rome, whose spiritual daughter
Glasgow was, that diocese had been exempted
from the jurisdiction of all other bishops and
archbishops. This was supposed to have been
obtained by a buU gi-anted by Pope Ale-ic-
ander III. only twelve years previously. If,
therefore, his see had been subject to the arch-
bishops of Yoi'k before that period, he added
that such a claim was of force no longer. Here
the pride of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who
bore no good-will to his spiritual brother of
York, was eifectually kindled : he contradicted
the assertion of the latter, and declared that
the subjection of the Scottish church was not to
the see of York, but to that of Canterbury. This
contention of the rival primates was a happy
interruption for the Scottish bishops, who must
have felt some misgiving for their cause before
such a tribiinal, and Henry, without repeating
his demand, allowed them to depart.' Already
Scotland w;us politically his own; but as a spiri-
tual vassal it could only belong to the church,
whose gi-owing power he was earnestly labouring
to curtail. The late case of Becket had likewise
taught him how formidable a sceptre the crozier
of Canterbury miglit become when wielded by
a vigorous hand, and probably warned him how
dangerous it might become if it w;is extended
not only over England, but Scotland also.

The captivity of William, brief as it was, had
shown the still insecure state of the Scottish
monai-chy, from the strifes and divisions of the
many races which it sought to coerce and the
rival sovereignties it comprised. This was espe-
cially the case with the wild Scots of Galloway
who had attended WiUiam in his luckless inroad
upon Northumberland, and who, like the rest
of the army, had made a hasty retreat to their
own home as soon as he was taken prisoner.
Emboldened by the absence of the king they
set up for independence in their own desperate
fashion by expelling his ofhcei-s, razing his
castles, and slaying or driving out all strangers
settled among them, whether Scotch or English,
whether Norman or Flemish ; and having thus
rid themselves of their masters, they quarrelled
among themselves. At this time two brothera,
Uchtred and Gilbert, possessed the large dis-
trict of Galloway between them ; but impatient
of a divided rule, Gilbert, in 1174, assassmated
his brother. To punish him the king marched
into Galloway as soon as he had regained his
liberty, but effected nothing against him beyond
mulcting him in the fine of homicide. Having
thus bought a pardon, Gilbert, in 1176, attended
Henry II. at York, to whom he did homage,
and whose protection he obtained, as is alleged.

by the bribe of a thousand merks. Thus as-
sured of powerful countenance and support,
the favoured fratricide commenced war against
William in 1184, but, fortunately for Scotland,
died in the following year.

The place of Gilbert, as lord of Galloway, was
now assumed by a very different personage;
this was the gallant Roland, the son of the
murdered Uchtred, who, on the death of his
unnatural uncle, advanced liis claim to the suc-
cession of his fathei-s ; and this he made good,
not only by defeating the forces of the late
usurper, but by clearing the whole of Galloway
from the hordes of rebels that infested it.
These brave deeds, which were beneficial to Scot-
land and grateful to the king, were odious to
Henry II., whose hold upon Scotland was chiefiy
to be maintained by its dissensions; and a.d.
1186 he mustered a formidable army at Carlisle
for the invasion of Galloway and the removal
of its gallant chief. But Roland, undismayed
by such an enemy, prepared himself for a war
of independence, and so effectually fortified the
passes of his nigged dominions that it woidd
have been dangei'ous to assail him. In this case
Henry, who had tried a similar campaign in
Wales, A.D. 1165, and been baffled by the natives
and the elements, consented that Roland's claims
against those of Dimcan, the son of Gilbert,
should be adjusted by a peaceful and legal com-
promise. This was done to the satisfaction of
all parties, so that while Roland was put in
possession of the greater part of the district,
Duncan was invested by William with the
barony of Carrick, at that time a portion of
Galloway.

While these disturbances were still pending
William was once more involved in an ecclesias-
tical controvei-sy. His opponent in this case
was neither Archbishop of York nor King of
England, but one of more formidable character,
even the sovereign pontiff himself. The ques-
tion at issue was the right of electing bishops,
which was now once more to be contested in
Scotland, and in consequence, as before, of a
vacancy in the see of St. Andrews. This event
having occurred a.d. 1178, the chapter assem-
bled, and upon their own authority elected to
the bishopric John Scot, one of its arch-deacons
— a man distinguished above his brethren in
that rude age by his literary attainments. But
the king had destined this high oflice for Hugli,
his own chaplain ; and on learning the proceed-
ings of the chapter, which seem to have been
so cunning or precipitate as to have taken him
by surprise, he indignantly exclaimed, " By the
arm of St. James, while I live John Scot shall
never be Bishop of St. Andrews!" To make
good his declaration he seized the revenues of St.

JOCELYN, BISHOP OF GLASGOW, REPUDIATES THE JURIS-
DICTION OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.

After the capture of William the Lion, King of Scotland, in a.d. 1173,
the Scots became vassals to England; but the Scottish Church never fully
submitted to the Church of England, because the clauses in the treaty
between the two countries relating to this matter were somewhat ambiguous.
This occasioned many ecclesiastical disputes, and in order to settle the
matter Cardinal Huguccio assembled a Council of the Church at North-
ampton, at which were present Henry IL, King of England, and also
William of Scotland, with six of his principal bishops. At this Conference
Roger, Archbishop of York, asserted that the bishops of Glasgow and
Galloway had formerly been subject to his See. To this Jocelyn, Bishop of
Glasgow, replied, that by the special grace of Rome his diocese had been
exempted from the jurisdiction of all other bishops and archbishops. In the
end the Scottish bishops were successful.

H. MAKGETSON.

JOCELYN, BISHOP OF GLASGOW, IN THE PRESENCE OF HENRY II.
AND THE Papal lbcatb, repudiates the jurisdiction of the archbishop of York,

AT COLSCIL OF ENGLISH CHURCH CONVENED AT NORTHAMPTON (A.D. Ii;6).

VoL i. p. 117.

I.D. 1153-1214.]

MALCOLM IV.— WILLIAM THE LION.

119

Andrews and commanded the bishops to con-
secrate the man of his election; and although
Scot appealed to Rome, Hugh was consecrated
and j)ut in possession of his benefice. The pon-
tiff, Alexander III., reversed this election in
A.D. 1180, and caused Scot to be consecrated by
the Scottish prelates; but as soon as this was
done the king sent Scot into banishment,
jjroclaimed Hugh the rightful Bishop of St.
Andrews, and put him in possession of its tem-
poralities.

In this way William the Lion, one of the
most limited sovereigns of Europe, and sove-
reign of one of its poorest ten-itories, braved an
authority at which kings and empei-ors trembled.
The example of his conqueror Henry II., who
had tried the same conflict and been miserably
foiled, seems only to have nerved him for the
feat. As Bishop Hugh, under shelter of the
king, asserted his election to be lawful, Alexius,
the papal legate, who had hitherto managed this
vexatious controversy on the part of the pontiff,
laid the diocese of St. Andrews under an inter-
dict, hoping he had thereby shut the mouth and
tied up the hands of the rebellious Hugh from
the exercise of his clerical functions. Even this,
however, was of no avail, so that the pope him-
self was obliged to descend into the arena ; and
he sent a mandate to the Scottish clergy, com-
manding thera within eight days to instal John
Scot as their bishop and yield him clerical
obedience. " Should the king wUl otherwise,"
he added, " or be inclined so to will by the
counsel of the wicked, you ought to yield your
obedience to God and to the holy Roman Church
rather than to men." By another mandate they
were also to excommunicate Hugh, the pre-
tended bishop, for his contumacy, and yield due
obedience to their lawful prelate John; and
should the latter be stUl rejected by William,
the pontiff empowered the Archbishop of York
and the Bishop of Durham to excommunicate
the king and lay Scotland under an interdict.
It is said that at this terrible threat even John
Scot himself was willing to end the controversy
by renouncing his pretensions; but the pope
had gone too far to permit the controversy to
l)e thus adjusted, and he commanded the faint-
hearted jjrelate, by the solemn obligation of Ids
"clerical obedience," to stand firm and hold out
to the last.

As the menaced excommunication and inter-
dict was the last of Home's dreaded weapons,
and therefore not to be hastily produced or idly
hazarded, attempts were yet to be made before
it sliould finally descend and strike. Accordingly
Hugh, Bishop of Durham, wlio had been in-
vested with legatine powers, with John Scot in
his company, who had been banished to Eng-

land, visited William for the purpose of per-
suading him to relent. Their arguments were
in vain. Scot then proceeded to excommuni-
cate, as disturbers of the church, some of the
king's chief counselloi-s ; but even by this fore-
taste of what awaited himself William remained
unmoved. On hearing of this strange case of
obduracy the pope wrote an angry letter to the
Scottish king, commanding him within twenty
days to admit Scot to his charge, threatening
not only excommunication in case of refusal,
but also to throw the Scottish church into sub-
jection to that of England. But William was
still as resolute as at the firet that John Scot
should never be Bishop of St. Andrews; he
offered, indeed, to appoint him chancellor and
give him some other vacant bishopric, but fur-
ther than this he would not concede. The
legatine authorities of York and Durham then
proceeded to pass sentence of suspension upon
all those priests who refused obedience to Scot,
and William retaliated by banishing those who
yielded it. And now the long-gathering thunder-
storm exploded, for the sentence of excommuni-
cation was at last pronounced upon William,
and of interdict upon the kingdom, by the pre-
lates of York and Durham, in name and by
authority of the pontiff. By this dread sentence
the churches should have been closed upon the
living and the very churchyards upon the
dead ; the nation should have been shunned as
a leper or persecuted as an outlaw by every
community of Europe, until it grovelled in the
dust and craved in abject terms for pity and
foi-giveness. But this, or even the more ten'ible
alternative of utter extinction among the na-
tions, was averted by what might be deemed a
vulgar accident. Pope Alexander III. died ;
and as it was not uncommon for a pontiff at his
accession to taste the sweets of power or in-
gratiate his new sovereignty by reversing the
sentences of his predecessor, Lucius III., who
succeeded Alexander III. in 1182, abrogated
those which had been inflicted on Scotland and
its king. It was even declared in the bull to
that effect that William, through Joceline,
Bishoj) of Glasgow, and his ambassadoi-s, " had
jjrescnteil many and sufficient reasons for re-
tracting the judgments pronounced by authority
of Alexander HI."

Thus was Scotland freed from that strangling
nightmare of the nations, whose inflictions,
dining the long night of the dark ages, were
so dreaded and often so fatal. The controverey,
indeed, was not yet fully ended, for the ques-
tion of Scot's reposition or exclusion had to be
settled anew even though the excommunication
of William had been reversed and the interdict
recalled. This, however, was very speedily ter-

120

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

minated by the mediation of the Bishop of Dol
aud the Abbot of Eievaux, who were sent into
Scotland by the new pope. William offered to
bestow upon Scot the bishopric of Dunkeld,
the dignity of chancellor, and the emoluments of
the archdeaconry of St. Andrews, with an annual
pension of forty marks, while Scot was to de-
stroy all the instruments which he had received
from the late pontiff. Should it be absolutely
requii-ed, the king also offered to remove Hugh
from St. Andrews to Glasgow, but not for the
sake of John, from whom in that case he would
withhold his personal favour. John consented;
and although he refused to destroy the papal
instruments in question, he pledged himself to
renounce all their benefits, if such should be the
pleasure of the king. His greatest obstacle to
a fuU reconciliation was the fact of his rival's
remaining in possession of the see of St. An-
di'ews, to which he declared he could never give
his consent ; but even this difficulty was sur-
mounted by an ingenious compromise — a com-
promise resembling that of two angry schoolboys
rather than the reconciliation of two great rival
ecclesiastics, with the interests of a church and
a nation at stake. Both bishops having resigned
their pretensions to the see of St. Andrews, the
pope nominated Hugh, the man of the king's own
choice, to the bishopric; while John Scot was
apjiointed to that of Dunkeld, according to the
king's own consent. Not only did William thus
maintain his independence in a trial where
defeat seemed inevitable, but also secure the
favour of the pope, who at the ensuing festival
of Lent sent him the golden rose in token of his
especial grace and also his pontifical blessing.

In the year 1186 William married Ermen-
garde, whose gi-andmother was an legitimate
daughter of Hemy I. This union, recommended
by Henry II., appeara to have been entered into
by the Scottish king with some reluctance. The
dowi'y settled upon his new queen was the
castle of Edinburgh, which Hem-y restored to
William, the service of forty knights, and an
annual revenue of a himdred pounds.

In the following year the country was once
more disturbed by a Celtic insui-rection, headed
by Donald or MacWilliam, who was or pretended
to be the son of that William whose father,
Duncan (the illegitimate son of Malcolm Can-
more), had ascended the Scottish throne, a.d.
1094, and held it only for a few months. The
pretensions of Donald were no doubt founded
upon the legitimacy of his grandfather, and his
own right to wear the crown of Scotland in pi-e-
ference to the present sovereign. He was soon
able upon the strength of these pi-etensions to
take possession of the district of Ross, and lay
waste that of Moray, so that the king in pereon

[a.d. 1153-1214.

was obliged to advance against him at the head
of a numerous army. A part of the royal force
under the leading of the gallant Eolaud, Lord
of Galloway, encountered the pretender by acci-
dent upon a heath in the neighbourhood of Inver-
ness, and in the skirmish Donald or MacWilliam
was slain, upon which his army dispersed.

In 1188 an event occurred that must have
been gratifying to the heart of Wilham, as it
secm-ed the ecclesiastical independence of his
kingdom, which was now constantly menaced
by the claims of the English hierarchy. This
was in consequence of a bull of Clement III.,
in which he declai-ed the Church of Scotland to
be the daughter of Eome by special grace, and
subject to her alone, not mediately, but directly.
Only the pope, or his legate a latere, was to
have authority to pronounce against Scotland
the sentences of excommunication and interdict:
none was to hold the office of legate there, ex-
cept a Scottish subject, or a member of the
Sacred College deputed by the apostolic see; and
no appeal concerning Scottish benefices was to
be made out of Scotland, except to the court of
Eome. In this way the claims of the primates of
Canterbury and York were laid to rest by an au-
thority which they could not question or gainsay.

A recognition so important, by which the na-
tional church was proclaimed free and indepen-
dent, was but the happy prelude of that poli-
tical liberation which succeeded. Soon after the
restoration of the castle of Edinburgh to the
ci'own of Scotland Henry II. offered to give
back the castles of Eoxburgh and Berwick also,
if William would consent to pay the tenths of
his kingdom towards the expenses of the crusade.
It was not that the King of England cared for
the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, or the ex-
pulsion of the Saracens from Palestine, but to
him the crusading mania, now the great Euro-
pean epidemic, was a most profitable pretext,
under which he extorted money both from
priest and layman, both from Jew and Chris-
tian.i It was not wonderful, therefore, that he
should offer to sell these castles, which were too
expensive for him to keep, or that he should
calculate upon the Scottish national feeling
when he rated them at so high a price. But
the exorbitance of the royal bargain-maker in
this case overehot itself; for in a meeting of the
Scottish parliament where the offer was pre-
sented, the barons and clergy answered that
they would not agree to these terms, though
both kings should have sworn to levy them.

Soon after this Henry II. died, and was suc-

1 From the Jews alone, "who were assessed at the rate of
a fourth of their property, but condemned to redeem them-
selves at a still heavier amount, Henry II. is said to have
wTung the tlien enormous sum of £60,000.

A.D. 1153-1214.]

MALCOLM IV.— WILLIAM THE LION.

121

ceeded by his eldest surviving son, Richard,
better known by the title of Coeur de Lion. As
the new King of England wa.s heart and soul a
crusader, he proceeded to gather money with
still greater eagerness than his father; but in
his case it was with the honest purpose of ex-
fieuding it freely in the undertaking. A few
months after his accession he invited the Scot-
tish king to his court at Canterbury; and in the
intercourse which was thus renewed between
Richard tlie Lion-hearted and William the
Lion, it was impos.sible for the former to forget
how greatly the latter had suffered as the ally
of himself and his brothers. This feeling, com-
bined with his pecuniary necessities, may have
suggested to him not only the renunciation of
the superiority over Scotland, but the generous
and easy terms upon which it was relinquished.
Accordingly, for ten thousand merks Scotland
was absolved fi-om her degrading allegiance to
England, and declared completely free and in-
dependent. The separate conditions of this
momentous national instrument, dated Decem-
ber 5th, 1189, were the following: —

The castles of Roxburgh and Berwick were
given up to William and his heirs for ever as
their own proper inheritance. — All obligations
extorted from William by new instruments, in
consequence of his captivity, were remitted,
upon condition that he should fully perform to
the King of England whatever Malcolm, the
brother of William, had performed to Richard's
predecessore. — The boundaries of the two king-
doms were to be re-established as they had
stood at the period of William's capti\'ity.
Richard on his part became bound to put Wil-
liam in full possession of all hia feofs in the
earldom of Huntingdon and elsewhere — and to
deliver up such of the evidences of the homage
done to Henry II. by the barons and clergy of
Scotland as were in his possession; declaring
also, that all evidences of that homage, whether
deUvered up or not, should be held as cancelled.

Such were the terms on which Richard I.
absolved a whole kingdom from vassalage. His
act has been condemned as one of those deeds
of thoughtless prodigality or chivalrous quixot-
tism of which his whole history was so largely
composed. But even setting aside the common
calls of gratitude, which demanded the redress
of grievances that had been incurred in his own
behalf, there is sufficient evidence that this deed
of generosity was an act of political wisdom.
Not only was Scotland too poor to be t;ixed,
but too turbulent to be coerced, and it was im-
piissible but that, amidst the political changes
of England, she would reassert her liberty by
far other modes than a peaceful money com-
position. Richard, too, be it remembered, was

about to depart to Palestine on a long and
doubtful expedition, by which the mUitary re-
sources as well as the wealth of the kingdom
would be exhausted ; and in such a case it was
wise to convert a dangerous enemy like Scot-
land into a gi-ateful affectionate ally. This was
shown by the amity that was now established
between the two nations, and which continued
to prevail after the two contracting sovereigns
had descended to their tombs. These considera-
tions might have justified the Lion-hearted had
he even rated the quittance of Scotland no
higher than a pepper-corn. As for the ten
thousand merks of ransom, at which Englisli
historians have expressed such contemptuous
derision, it was no such frivolous matter to the
Scots, with whom silver was scai'ce, and gold a
downright rarity; and our writers have been
puzzled to conjecture how it was raised and paid
by a people whose scanty commerce was limited
to the sale of wool, hides, and skins. It is cer-
tain that it could not be raised at once, or paid
otherwise than by instalments. Even the two
thousand merks which William is said to have
contributed for the liberation of Richard from
the Austiuan prison was perhaps nothing more
than a portion of his own ransom.^

With the splendid army of Richard I. which
left England a.d. 1190, and of which so few
wei-e fated to return, was David, the brother of
William, and now Earl of Huntingdon in reality
as well as name by the late renunciation of
Richard. As an English earl he was bound to
follow the banner of the King of England, and
before his departure he allied himself still more
closely to the country by his marriage with
Maud, the daughter of Ranulph, Earl of Clies-
ter. The adventvires of this prince while a sol-
dier in Palestine are unknown, and therefore
have left a free field for the romancist; but in
history he is chiefly distinguished by the dis-
astrous events of his return from the crusade,
in which he was as sorely tried as Richard
Coeur de Lion himself. The vessel in which he
embarked was shipwrecked on the coast of
Egypt ; and on reaching land he was conveyed
by the natives to Alexandria, where, his rank
being unknown, he was sold as a slave to certain
Venetian merchants, who brought him to Con-
stantinople and afterwards to Venice. At this
last city he was recognized and ransomed by
some English traders, with whom he travelled
to Flandei-s ; but on embarking a second time
for Scotland he was again assailed by such a
tempest that in liis extremity he vowed to the
Virgin that if he reached home in sjifety lie
would erect a church to her honour. After

I Lord nailps, vol. I. pp. 146-149

122

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

beiug driven about on the coasts of Norway
and Shetland his vessel, stripped both of helm
and tackle, entered the Tay and reached Dundee.
After landing he fulfilled his vow by erecting
the Abbey of Lindores for the order of Bene-
dictines.'

The succeeding events of the reign of William,
although it was still extended over a course of
years, afford little scope for notice, partly from
their unimportant nature, but still more from
the obscurity with which they are surrounded.
Its chief troubles arose from revolts in Caith-
ness which were easily suppressed, and by mis-
understandings with the uni-easonable John, the
successor of Casur de Lion, which could not be
so easily terminated. On the accession of John
to the throne of England William did homage
to him in the usual form for the land held by
him in England, but followed this act by a de-
mand for the restitution of the three English
counties that had formerly belonged to Scotland
— a demand which John vaguely promised to
take into consideration. The latter, however,
gave unequivocal proofs of an encroaching spirit
against his neighbour by attempting to erect a
castle at Tweedmouth for the purpose of over-
awing Berwick ; but as fast as it was built the
castle was demolished by the orders of William.
After this angry altercation had continued a
few years matters seemed, in 1209, to be ripened
for actual warfare, and the two kings were on
the eve of meeting, each at the head of an
army. But when John had arrived at Norham
and William at Berwick the barons of both
kingdoms interposed, and the quarrel was ended
by jmymeut on the part of William of a sum of
money for the demolition of the castle of Tweed-
mouth, and a promise on the part of John that
it should never be rebuilt. He also delivered
to the guardianship of John his two daughters,
Margai-et and Isabella, that they might be pro-
vided with suitable husbands in England. It
has been added that the paction on this occa-
sion was that Henry and Eiohard, the sons of
John, should marry the two Scottish princesses.
Throughout the whole treaty William appears
as the weaker party, and this especially when
we find that, to piuchase the good-will of the
King of England and fidfll certain agreements
not specified, he consented to pay the large sum
of fifteen thousand merks. As the price of a de-
molished castle it was certainly by far too much;
but if it was to be understood as a dowry for
the princesses on their marriage with the sons
of John, it becomes more intelligible. Such a
pacification gave little satisfaction to William's
subjects, whom it must have considerably im-

1 Boece, lib. xiii. c. 7

[a.d. 1153-1214.

poverished ; but he was no longer the bold ad-
venturous knight-errant of former years, but a
cautious old man surrounded by difficulties, and
having none but an infant son to succeed him.
The peace into which he had entered he there-
fore steadfastly maintained to the close of his
life, notwithstanding the temptations arising
from the troubled state of John's affairs with not
only his barons but the church arrayed against
him. In the last year of his reign he allowed his
young son Alexander, Prince of Scotland, now in
his seventeenth year, to receive knighthood from
John, although lying under the excommunica-
tion of the church; and this circumstance, which
might have deterred other sovereigns, was per-
haps an additional recommendation in the eyes
of William, who had himself braved the danger
and shown how it might be overcome. His
death occurred after a long iUness at Stirling on
the 4th of December, 1214, in the seventy-second
year of his age and forty-ninth of his reign.

The character of this king may be distinctly
traced in the actions that signalized his govern-
ment. In his youth his unreflecting unscrupu-
lous disposition was manifested not only in
public life by the encouragement he gave to the
English jjrinces in warring against their own
father, but in private by his licentiousness, so
that an illegitimate family of two sons and four
daughters were the fruits of his seductions, to
which several young maidens of rank had fallen
victims. Then followed his military operations,
which were conducted without wisdom, and
which ended, as they deserved, in discomfiture
and disgrace. It was a bitter lesson, but he
laid it to heart; and this is evident from his
subsequent proceedings, which seem to have
been a continual and systematic effort to repair
the wi-ongs he had committed and the suffering
he had entailed. He thus was enabled not only
to compose the internal troubles of his kingdom
but to restore it to the independence from
which it had fallen. In the duties of legisla-
tion, also, which were so much in request for a
people like the Scots, he was eminently dis-
tinguished, and his laboui-s in this dej^artment
are attested by his statutes in thirty-nine chap-
ters which are included in the collection of the
ancient laws of Scotland.

This king is usually distinguished in our old
histories by the title of William the Lion ; and
he was so called, Boece informs us, " for his
singular justice." But how such a resemblance
could be established he has not ventured to
suggest. The title most probably arose from
his being the first of our Scottish kings who
assumed an armorial cognizance, which was a
lion rampant, and this is the figure that ap-
pears on his seal.

A.D, 1214-1249.]

ALEXANDER II.

123

CHAPTER III.

REIGN OF ALEXANDER II. (1214-1249).

Succession of Alexander II. — Insurrection of Donald MacWilliam — Alexander invades England— Scotland
invaded by John, King of England — Merciless character of the invasion — Alexander again invades
England — Pacification between Alexander and Henry III. — Rebellions in Caithness and Moray — RebelUon
in Galloway — Its suppression — Pacific interviews between Alexander and Henry III. — Terms of their
agreement — The papal legate proposes to visit Scotland — He is deterred by Alexander — Feud between
the families of Athole and Bisset — Its cause — Bisset's unpatriotic conduct — Henry III. invades Scotland
— The invasion amicably terminated — Disturbances in Galloway — Rebellion in Argj'le — Alexander's expedi-
tion to suppress it — He dies on the way — His character.

Alexander, the son of William the Lion, and
second of the name, was crowned at Scone on
the 5th of December. 1214. Although a-s yet
only in his seventeenth year he had already a
foretaste of the cares of royalty, in a Celtic in-
surrection headed by Donald MacWilliam, son
of that rebel of the same name who claimed to
be grandson of King Duncan, the son of Mal-
colm Canmore, and was slain in battle, a.d. 1187.
The present MacWilliam, aided by an Irish
chieftain, invaded the district of Moray, the
scene of his fathei-'s inroads; but his forces were
defeated, and himself slain by Maclntagurt,
Earl of Koss. The insurgent's gory head was
presented to the young king in token of the
victory.

During the important events which were
now taking place in England it was impossible
that Scotland would be allowed to remain
neutral. The gi-eat civil conflict between John
and his b;irons had commenced in wiiich the
important principles embodied in Magna Charta
were contested and won. The support of Scot-
land and its king in such a controverey was of
high importance, and the price oti'ered for it by
the barons of England was such as a patriotic
Scottish sovereign of the day could not well
refuse: it was the surrender of Carlisle and the
investiture of Northumberland. AUured l)y this
prospect of regaining the northern counties of
England, Alexander II. joined the barons against
John, and at the commencement of the first
winter of his reign made an inroad into North-
umberland, and laid siege to the castle of
Norham. During the forty days of this leaguer,
in which he w.as unsuccessful, the English barons
gave him a formal investment of Northumber-
land by the hands of Eustace de Vesci. But in
this payment it soon appeared that they were
too hasty, for Norham successfully stood out,
the desperate cause of John obtained new
strength through the countenance and protec-
tion of the ]>ope, whom he propitiated by be-
coming his vassal, and the English tyrant at the

head of an army composed of the military scum
and refuse of Europe — Braban^ons, Poitevins,
Gascons, Flemings, and men of countries more
obscure — was able to oveiTun a large portion
of England, and reduce the barons to the last
extremity. It was now his turn to take ven-
geance on the Scots; and after having wasted
the northern counties with such excesses of
avaricious cruelty on the part of his foUowere
that it was aOeged a portion of them were Jews,
he entered Scotland with such an array as even
Scotland itself had never as yet matched either
in strange materials or sanguinary proceedings.
The very names in which his principal captains
rejoiced, such as Lattim the Merciless, Walter
Birch the Murderer, Godeschal the Iron-
hearted, Maideon the Bloody, and Falco with-
out Bowels, were sufficient to attest their char-
acters as soldiers and the nature of their military
operations. After burning the tonus of Had-
dington and Dunbar, John continued his de-
structive inroad, swearing that he would rouse
the little red fox out of his den, for so he called
Alexander from the colour of his hair. The
little red fox, however, was too cunning to op-
pose the firet view-halloo of such a huntsman,
and he allowed him to exhaust himself in a
useless chase upon bleak heaths and barren
mountiins. Thus finding no enemy in the field,
and starved by the desolation which his own
wild fury had created, John w.is obliged to make
a hcisty retreat, setting fire to the priory of
Coldingham and the town of Berwick on his
way, as if to annoimce his return into England.
To show himself a leader worthy of such troops,
and to encourage their excesses, his own hand
commenced the burning of the town by applying
a firebrand to the house that had been honoured
with his residence.'

In the meantime the young King of Scotland
had encamped between the Pentland Hills and
the Esk, intending there to give battle to the

I Mattbew Paris. Chrtm, Metros.

124

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1214-1249.

invader ; but the hasty retreat of John and its
direction along the sea-coast disappointed his
calculations. The retreat of tlie English forces
and the desire of revenge were enough to incite
Alexander to invade England in retui-u, and
penetrating through the western marches, he
advanced through Northumberland as far as
Richmond. But the wild followers of his banner,
and especially the men of Galloway, committed
such havoc that the king was glad to detach
them from their prey by the signal of retreat.
Nor did these merciless marauders escape the
visible judgment of Heaven, if we are to put
faith in monkish history, for, after burning the
monastery of Holmcultram in Cumberland, a
thousand Gallowegians in theii' retreat were
drowned in the river Eden.' On reaching home
Alexander dismissed from his army the un-
manageable fi-eebooters of Galloway, and re-
suming his incureion into England he took pos-
session of the town of Cai'lisle. In the meantime
Louis, the Dauphin of Fi'anoe, whom the enemies
of John had invited to their aid with the offer of
the crown of England, lauded at Dover, and on
his being recognized as king, Alexander marched
forward to join the armed coalition against John,
and do homage to the dauphin as the sovereign
of England for the territories he held in that
country. As Bernard Castle, the family seat of
Hugh de Baliol, a principal adherent of John,
lay in his route, Alexander laid siege to it ; but
while he rode round the walls, attended by some
of the nobles of the district, a bolt from a
cross-bow kUled Eustace de Vesci, the same
bai'on who had invested him with livery and
sasine in the county of Northumberland, and
who had married Alexander's sister.^ By the
same authority we are informed that the Scot-
tish king did homage to Louis at Dover. In
the compact which was made against John, the
dauphin had sworn that he would not agree to
terms of peace without his allies; but, by the
unexpected death of the tyi-ant on the 17th of
October (1216), this agi'eement was set aside in
consequence of Louis making a peace on his
own account, and retiring to France, and the
English nobles swearing allegiance to Henry III. ,
the successor of John. In this way the Scottish
king was left to shift for himself as he best
could. This sudden abandonment of the enter-
prise was chiefly occasioned by the abject humil-
iation of John, who had bequeathed England to
the rule and protection of Rome, in consequence
of which Gualo, the papal legate, pronounced
sentence of excommunication against all who
_were opposed to the dominion of the church.
Tfys terrible sentence also extended to Alex-

ander II., to his army, and the whole kingdom
of Scotland ; but so far from the Scottish king
regarding it as the dauphin and the English
barons had done, it wa.s not proclaimed in Scot-
land till a whole twelvemonth afterwards. But
however indifferent he might be to a papal
excommunication, Alexander found that he
could not make war unsupported against the
whole power of England, and was compelled to
retreat. At the close of the following year the
king and nation were absolved from that papal
sentence which they seemed to value so lightly,
and peace was restored between England and
Scotland by Alexander performing homage to
Henry III. for the eai-ldom of Huntingdon and
all his other English possessions. In 1221 a still
closer amity was estabUshed between the two
kingdoms by the marriage of Alexander to Joan,
the sister of the English king.

After this the cares of the Scottish king were
chiefly occupied with the internal concerns of
the country, which the late unprofitable inva-
sion of England had not tended to propitiate.
The first outbreak was an insurrection in Aj-gyle,
the inhabitants of which, the original lords of
the countiy, could not tamely witness those
changes by which they were reduced to in-
significance. The king marched against them,
reduced them to submission, and compelled
them to give hostages for their future obedience.
The flight of theu' principal ringleadere enabled
him to supply the country with new chieftains
of the Teutonic race, who were endowed with
the lands of the defaulters, and who introduced
a higher civilization among the wild tribes com-
mitted to theii- rule.^

Another revolt but of a different character
occurred about the same time (a.d. 1222) in
Caithness. Adam, the bishop of that see, was
odious to the people by his rigorous exaction
of tithes, and at last they rose in rebellion and
liesieged his ejjiscopal dwelling. The bishop,
hemmed in by a fui-ious multitude and unable
to resist, sent to the military lord of the dis-
trict, the Earl of Orkney and Caithness, pray-
ing him to come to liis assistance ; but the earl,
who was supposed to have a fellow-feeling with
the revolters, coolly answered, " Let the bishop
come to me and I will protect him." In the
meantime the dwelling was fired and the un-
fortunate prelate burned alive. Alexander re-
ceived the tidings of this atrocity while he was
on a journey to England ; but instantly aban-
doning his purposed route, he repaired to the
place of insm'rection, subdued the rioters, and
inflicted upon them a punishment even more
terrible than their crime. He caused four hun-

A.D. 1214-1249.]

ALEXANDER II.

125

dred of them to be put to death, aud not con-
tent with this, it is added that he emasculated
their cliildreu in order that none of such au
accursed brood should he continued to trouble
the country in after years.' This odious form
of justice does not constitute a solitary instance
iu the pages of our early chronicles. Nor did
the earl wholly escape, for he was deprived of
his estate, although he was afterwards suffered
to redeem it. Justice, however, was not yet
satisfied, aud the full measure was meted out to
him by his own servants; who murdered him in
his house and afterwards set it on fire. Bishop
Adam was reckoned a sort of martjT by his
brethren because he had perished for the rights
of the church ; and it is not unlikely that this
popidar canonization, as well as the spirit of
rebellion or love of plunder, may have animated
his avengers.

Almost six years after this insurrection in
Caithness another broke out in the turbulent
district of Moray, headed by a chieftain named
Gillespie, an inhabitant of Eoss. After burning
several primitive castles of timber in Moray he
fired the town of Inverness, wasted the crowu-
lands in the neighbourhood, and compelled
every one on pain of death to join his party.
The king went against him, but w;is unsuccess-
ful. In the following year the Earl of Buchan
conducted an expedition against Gillespie, and
with better fortune, for he tracked the formid-
able marauder, surprised him in his lurking-
place, and having beheaded him as well as
his two sons, sent their heads to the king.-

The scene of insubordination and turbulence
once more shifted to Galloway. Allan, the lord
of that district aud son of Roland, died in a.d.
i'2'.i4, leaving three daughters by different mai'-
ii;iges and an illegitimate son. Of these ladies
Helen was married to Roger de Quiuci, Earl of
Winchester; Devorgod, to John de Baliol, Lord
of Bernard C;istle; and Christian, to WLUiam
des Foi-ts, son of the Earl of Albemarle. As they
were the joint-heiresses of theu- father's power-
ful principality, the men of Galloway were dis-
mayed at the prospect of having their political
consequence humbled by the partition of their
country into three lordsliips, with English biu'ons
for their chiefs ; aud they besought the king to
set ;iside the succession of Allan's daughters
and assume the inheritance for himself. But
justice and policy equally forbade this daring
step ; the Saxon laws of succession were as yet
too recent to be safely violated, and the English
nobles were too powerful to be provuked. Alex-
ajuler, therefore, dismissed the appe;d of the
Gallowegians and confirmed the disposition

> Fnrdim, lib. ix. c. 37.

' Fordun ; Buchanan.

made by their deceased lord. They next re-
quested that Thomas, the illegitimate son of
Allan, might be appointed their chief ; but the
king, who must have felt the necessity of di-
viding them, refused to sanction the appoint-
ment. The Bastard of Galloway, who had such
a fau- field opened for his ambition, was not
thus to be rejected, aud a combination to sup-
port his claims was formed consisting of the
King of Man, several Irish chiefs, and the dis-
contented lords of Galloway, who swore by a
solemn covenant of blood-drinking to instal him
into his father's rule. Thomas, thus supported,
commenced open wai-, and not only secuied Gal-
loway but carried his daring inroads into the
heart of Scotland, in company with Gilrodh, a
powerful chief from Ireland, who was the prin-
cipal supporter of his cause. At the head of a
numerous ai-my Alexander marched against the
insurgents, and in advancing into Galloway he
found the obstacles presented by that rugged
country augmented by those of famine, for
the chiefs had wasted theii- own lands and de-
stroyed their houses, that the invaders might
fiud neither shelter nor sustenance. But the
king persevered, brought the rebels to an open
battle, and defeated them with such loss that
several thousands were slain in fight, while
those who were taken prisonere were put to
the sword without mercy. As for the chiefs
of the insurrection, their lands were confiscated
and bestowed upon stranger occupants, while
the three Anglo-Norman barons were placed in
full possession of the allotments that belonged
to their wives. In this way Galloway was
reduced fi-om a separate principaUty into a con-
geries of baronies and an integi-al part of Scot-
land. In the following year, indeed, Thomas
and Gilrodh endeavomed to renew the war; and
lauding on the coast of Galloway with a strong
body of Irish auxiliaries, they burned their ves-
sels as soon as they had stepped on shore, like
men who had come to conquer or die. But sub-
seqiient events made this menace a mere bra-
vado. The men of Galloway were so effectually
subdued by their late defeat that they offered
little or no aid to the invaders, aud the Bast,-ird
aud his Irish ally suiTcndered themselves with-
out resistance to the Earl of Maich. Thus for-
saken by their chiefs, the unfortunate Irish
kernes endeavoured to open their way liome-
wai-d by the river Clyde, and for that purpose
had reached Glasgow, when they were set upon
by the men of that city, over|)Owered, and all of
them beheadetl except two, who were reserved
to be hanged and (jiiartered at Edinbiugh.-' ,,»^
Although there still continued to be a smoftl* ' ^

^ /f^l "-

• Wynton ; Matt Parie ; Chron. Utlrot

126

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1214-1249.

deriug of indignation between the courts of
Scotland and England, no ojjen flame broke
forth, and the occasional interviews between
the Scottish king and Henry III. lasted during
the whole of Alexander's reign. The chief sub-
ject of contention between them was the land
in England which pertained to the Scottish
crown — a question in which the royal as well
as national honour of the two parties was at
stake, and which they were at all times ready
to contest, if need should be, by the final assize
of battle. Among other claims of Alexander II.
was one for the possession of the county of
Northumberland, which King John had as-
.signed as the marriage jiortion of his daughter
Joan, but which her brother Henry persisted
in withholding. Upon this ground an inter-
view occurred in 1236 between the two kings
at York, and afterwards at Newcastle; but the
whole terminated for the time in the gift of an
English manor to the Scottish queen, and the
jji'omise of a revenue to her husband from land
in some part of England that would not serve
as a door and inlet to invasions from Scotland.

On the following year a still more important
meeting occuiTed between the two kings at
York, which Henry convened for the purpose
of a final and peaceful adjudication. On this
occasion the demands of the Scottish king
enable us more perfectly to understand the
points of controversy that were at issue. He
claimed the counties of Northumberland, Cum-
berland, and Westmoreland, by right of in-
heritance— thus laying open all the territorial
demands which Scotland had ever at any time
established in England either by conquest or
cession. He requii-ed the repayment of 15,01)0
merks which his father, Wilham the Lion, had
given to King John of England on condition
that his sons Henry and Richard should espouse
Margaret and Isabella (William's daughters),
but which engagement had never been imple-
mented. He also alluded to an engagement by
which Henry had pledged himself to marry
Marjory, another daughter of William the Lion.
These large demands were evidently made that
the instalment offered in return should bear some
adequate proportion. And in this spirit they
were met and settled by the united wisdoms of
England and Scotland. Henry oftered, and Alex-
ander consented to accept, in lieu of all demands
territorial and pecuniary, six manors in the
counties of Northumberland and Cumberland
yielding an annual rental of i'200, and to render
homage for these in the usual form — all the
Scottish noblee present binding themselves by
oath to maintain the terms of the agreement.'

, iVdrm.: Matt. Paris.

At this meeting of Christian pacification
C;u-dinal Otto, the papal legate in England, was
an effectual iissistant. Mindful of the interests
of his church, he took the opportunity of the
happy termination of the treaty to intimate to
Alexander his wish to visit Scotland, and to
examine into its ecclesiastical affairs, as he had
done into those of England. But this proposal
w;is wormwood to the Scottish king. His pre-
decessors had striven hard and successfully for
the ecclesiastical independence .of the kingdom ;
as yet it had been free from the imperious
visitations of papal legates; and in 1225 the
Scottish bishops had been gratified with the
pope's permission to hold a council of their own,
which they not only did for the time, but still
continued to do without troubling themselves
with a fresh appHcation to the pontiflf. Alex-
andei-'s reply on this occasion was equally bold
and politic. " I do not remember," he said,
"ever to have seen a legate in my territories,
nor that it has been necessary for one to be
summoned there, thanks to God; and there is
not now any need of one, for all goes on well;
neither was any legate allowed ingress into that
kingdom during the time of my father, or any
of my ancestors, and I will not allow it as long
as I am able. However, since report pronounces
you to be a man of sanctity, I warn you, if you
should happen to enter my territories, to pro-
ceed cautiously, lest anything untoward happen
to you. For ungovernable, wild men dwell
there, who thirst after human blood, and whom
I myself cannot tame, and if they were to attack
you I should be unable to restrain them : it is
but lately, as you have perhaps heard, that they
wanted to attack me and drive me from my
kingdom."^ On hearing this the cardinal, who
does not appear to have been allured with such
a prospect of the crown of martyrdom, wisely
remained in England. He sent, however, an
Italian, a kinsman of his own, to the Scottish
court ; and Alexander, that he might not seem
discourteous at such a mark of confidence, be-
stowed upon the foreigner a portion of land and
the honour of knighthood. In this way the
independence of the Scottish church was still
maintained inviolate.

During the same year(1237) Joan,thedaughter
of King John of England, and Queen of Alex-
ander II., died in her native country of a pain-
ful and lingering complaint, for which she had
vainly sought a cure at the shrine of St. Thomas
a Becket. As she had left her husband no
offspring, Alexander in 1239 espoused Mary,
the daughter of Ingelram de Couci, a powerful

2 Matthew
Giles, D.C.L.

, vol. i. p. 76. Trauslatioii of Eev. J. A.

A.D. 1214-1210] ALEXANDER II.

count of Picardy, by whom, two years after, he
had a son who succeeded him in the Scottish
throne.

About this time an event occurred sufficiently
characteristic of the rude state of society and
mode of administering justice in Scotland dur-
ing the thirteenth century. At a touioiament
)ipon the English bordere Patrick, Earl of
Athole, a young uuljleman distinguished for
his knightly accomplishments, unhorsed his an-
tagonist, Walter Bisset. This mischance, which
should have been received in all love and cour-
tesy, was supposed to have rankled in the mind
of the discomfited knight, and engendered pur-
jioses of deadly revenge. Shortly after, while
Earl Patrick was lodging at a lai'ge bai-u-like
buililing (probably a hostelry of the period) at
Haddington, the door was blocked up with
trunks of trees at midnight, the pile was set on
tire, and the earl and his attendants perished in
the fljunes. Bisset was immediately suspected
of the deed, and the kindred of Athol, now
banded in a death-feud, were prepared to pursue
the sujiposed murderer to the last extremity.
In the meantime no means were left unti-ied by
Bisset to prove his innocence. He procured a
sentence of excommunication to be pronounced
with its most imposing accompaniments' not
oidy in his own chapel, but in all the churches
of Scotland against the actors and abettors of
the deed ; he asserted that he had been fifty
miles distant when it was perpetrated ; and he
ofi'ered to clear himself by the ordeal of combat
against any who should charge him with the
crime. The young and beautiful queen, also,
Mary de Couci, only lately a mother, was so
assured of Bisset's innocence, that she ofi'ered
to make oath that he could never have attempted
such a crime. But all these expurgations were
of no avail against men resolved to condemn
him ; and when a trial by jury was oflered he
rejected it on account of the popular prejudice,
which gave him no chance of a deliberate hear-
ing. He had tlirown himself upon the protec-
tion of the king ; but against such a feud even
royalty was helpless in Scotland; and when
Alexander ofi'ered to strip Bisset of all his pos-
sessions and banish him from Scotland, the
Athole faction consented, in the hope of being
al)le to waylay the exile at his departure. This
design, liowever, becoming known to the king,
he concealed Bisset for three months before
dismissing him ; and when the fugitive at last
was able to steal forth one daik night unde-
tected it was with a solemn vow that he would

127

• "Idem Willclmus liiaet in cnpclla sua oranes faetorcs ct
taiitorcs hujus Im-endii, ct per omnca ecelesias Scotinc, ac-
ccinis et extiiictis caudelis, excommunicire fecit," For-
duo, lib. ix. c. 59.

make a pilgrimage to the Holy Laud, there to
pray for the dead Athole's soul and his own,
and never to return.

If such was really the devout, self-denying
purpose of the fugitive at his egress from con-
cealment, it seems to have been left behind
when he had fairly distanced his pursuers ; for,
instead of repairing to Palestine, he went no far-
ther than London, and there he endeavoured to
revenge his own personal quan'el by stirring up
a war against his native country. To efi'ect this
traitorous purpose he appealed to Henry III.,
and complained of the injustice he had sustained.
Although he had, as he said, proved his inno-
cence, and ofi'ered to justify himself by combat,
he had been driven from Scotland a banished
and disinherited man, and all because his sove-
reign was unable to do him justice. He further
represented that this sentence of his king was
illegal and unconstitutional as well as unjust,
for that Alexander as the liege vassal of the
King of England could not thus deprive and
banish a Scottish nobleman convicted of no
crime without the sovei-eign of England's con-
sent. After this disloyal and unpatriutic argu-
ment, he adduced a statement which, even if
actually true, was a me:m breach of confidence
on the part of Bisset towards Alexander, who
had concealed and sheltered him, and with
whose more private doings he must thus have
become acquainted: — he declared that the Scot-
tish king harboured Geoffrey Mareh, a fugitive
fi-om Ireland, and traitor to Hem-y, whose son,
"William, had lately been tried for treason, and
hanged at London as his father's accomjjlice.

These unworthy ai-guments and insiimations
were suited to such a mind as that of Henry III.,
who had much of the weakness and meanness
of his father John. Alexandei-'s alliance with
France also by his man-iage with Mary de Couci
had further irritated him, as he was now |u-o-
secuting a war with that country which brought
him nothing but loss and disgrace. This French
war, and quan-els with his pai-Uament about
grants of subsidies and the ratification of Magna
f'harta, prevented an immediate invasion into
Scotland; but in 1244, when Henry found him-
self at leisure, he prepared for tho undertaking
in earnest. On this occasion the inducements
given by Bisset were strengthened by a rejiort
which w.as rumoured of Alexander, to the efi'ect
that he had sent a message to England, declai'-
ing that lie <lid not hold the least particle of his
kingdom from Henry ; that he ought not to do
so ; anil that he would not. The King of Eng-
land hindered John de Couci, the brother of the
Scottish queen, from coming to Alexander's
.Lssisfcmce by stirring up a war against him in
Picaidy; and lie secured the co-operation of the

128

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1214-1249.

Count of Flanders, who arrived in England with
a strong body of knights and men-at-arms to
co-operate in the invasion of Scotland. Henry
also enlisted twenty-two Irish chiefs to serve
under his banner. When all were in readiness
he assembled his army at Newcastle ; and, in
proclaiming the causes of the war, he not only
announced Alexander's alliance with France,
and the protection he afforded to Geoffrey
Maioh, but also that "Walter C'omyn, Earl of
Meuteith, had given matter of offence to Eng-
land by erecting two castles, the one in Galloway
and the other in Lothian. On the other hand,
the King of Scotland had not been idle, and
the ai'my which he mustered gives a formid-
able picture not only of the population but the
military resources of Scotland at so early a
period. It consisted of 100,000 infantry and
1000 horsemen. This was but a small amount
of cavalry compared with what the King of Eng-
land brought into the field ; ' but the Scottish
horsemen were knights, and although they were
not mounted upon the lai'ge fleet war-horses
that were usually imported from Spain and
Italy, their bodies were well protected by armour
of steel or linen. The whole army was ;dso in
heai'ty trim for fight, for the soldiers had shrived
themselves, and were encouraged by their'
preachers to fight to the death in defence of
the liberty of Scotland. This imposing army
prevented the necessity of a battle; Henry, an
unlucky warrior, was in no mood to risk his
doubtful fortimes in such a trial ; and the King
of Scotland, in consequence of his amiable quali-
ties, was almost as much beloved by the English
as by his own people. Under such cu-cum-
stances a peace was speedily concluded between
the contending parties at Newcastle. By this
treaty the Scots engaged to enter into no alliance
with the enemies of England as long as the
English did them no harm ; and, satisfied with
this promise of neutrality, Henry led his splen-
did ai'my from Newcastle to make a campaign
against the Welsh, and to beg or extort money
for its maintenance.'^ Little did Scotland know,
amidst the joy of such a riddance, how all this
would be reveraed by a httle child of Henry as
yet only five years old, and whose boyish atten-
tion was thus roused into life by the din and
pomp of a Scottish invasion.-'

After three years of peace the tranquillity of
Scotland was disturbed by internal dissension.
The Scots of Galloway had not yet been recon-

1 These according to Matthew Paris amounted to about
BOOO well-armed knights.

2 Matthew Paris ; Fordun ; Fcedera.

3 Edward I. was born on Jiuie ISth. 1239; this treaty at
Newcastle was ratified on the 4th o( August, 1244.

ciled to the manner in which their country was
parcelled out among the husbands of their
chief's daughters; and of these new lords the
most obnoxious seems to have been Roger de
Quinci, Earl of Winchester, whom his Scottish
vassals hated as an oppressive taskmaster. His
feudal exactions, even if conducted with strict
Norman justice, would have been enough to
outrage their Celtic ideas of patriarchal right
and rule; but in the case of De Quinci they
seem to have been imposed with more than the
usual rigom\ A rebellion of his people followed
in 1247; they besieged him in his castle and
reduced him to such extremity that he only
escaped by a desperate sally, in which he cut
iis way through the besiegera and fled to the
king, whose aid he invoked to replace him.
Alexander soon suppressed the rebellion, and
Roger was reinstated in his chieftainship. At
his death he also, like Allan, his father-in-law,
left three daughters, among whom his Scottish
possessions were divided ; and in this way Gal-
loway, lately such a dangerous sovereignty, with
laws and a government of its own, was with
each generation becoming more innocuous.

The last distm'bance with which the reign of
Alexander II. was troubled arose from Angus,
Lord of Argyle. This potent chief had been
wont to do homage to the King of Norway for
certain islands of the Hebrides of which he held
possession; and on Alexander requiring that
this homage should be transferred to himself,
Angus refused to comply. He doubtless felt
himself more independent in a foreign vassalage
that would have been little more than nominal,
than in one which would have placed him under
constant watchfulness and control. In conse-
quence of his refusal Alexander set out in per-
son to reduce him to submission; but on his
way he was attacked by fever, of which he died
in the little island of Kerrera, ueai' the coast
of Ai-gyle, in the fifty-first year of his age and
thirty-fifth of his reign. His decease occurred
on the 8th of July, 1249. By his own desii-e
his body was conveyed to Scotland and buried in
the Abbey of Melrose. His actions and his whole
life show that the eulogiums bestowed upon
him so profusely by Fordun were not unmerited,
and that he was one of the best as well as ablest
of Scottish kings. He signalized his piety by
founding eight monasteries in Scotland ; and
his prudence by filling them with Dominicans
or Black Friai-s, in preference to the more ex-
pensive monastic orders which David I. had
patronized. It was not often thus that the
kings of his day reconciled their donations to
the church with their own royal rights and the
welfare of their subjects.

4.L. 1249-1286.]

ALEXANDER III.

129

CHAPTER IV.

REIGN OF ALEXANDER III. (1249-1286).

Alexander III. succeeds to the crown — Difficulties about his coronation — His marriage to the daughttjr of
Henry III. — Case of Alan Durward — Interference of Henry 111. in Scottish affairs — Complaints of Alex-
ander's queen — Henry's visit to Scotland — Contentions between the Comyn and the EngUsh factions —
Trial and banishment of the Countess of Jlenteith — Alexander 111. and his queen visit England — Haco,
King of Norway, prepares to invade Scotland — Arrival of the Norwegian fleet — Its operations — Its losses
by shipwreck — Battle of Largs — Haco retires to Norway — Death of Haco — Alexander reduces the Western
Islands to submission — Unites with his clergy for the independence of the Scottish church — Their successful
resistance to the pope — Remantic marriage of Robert Bruce to the Countess of Carrick — Edward 1.
succeeds to the crown of England — Alexander visits him — Bagimont's Roll — Homage rendered by Alex-
ander to Edward I. — Extinction of Alexander's family — He marries anew — Startling pageant at his
marriage — His sudden death — His character.

By the death of Alexander II. the crown of
Scotland was once more exposed to the perils of
a minority, a.9 his only son, Alexander III., was
but eight j'ears old. An attempt was made to
delay the period of his coronation by represent-
ing that the day appointed was an imlucky one,
and that the young prince ought to receive
knighthood before he was called to the throne.
These objections appear to have arisen from Alan
Durward, the great justiciary of Scotland, who
being also at the head of the Scottish chivalry,
had hoped that the honour of confen-ing knight-
hood upon the sovereign should fall upon him-
self. These objections were overruled by Walter
Comyn, Earl of Menteith, who represented the
danger of delay, and suggested that the Bishop
of St. Andrews might perform both ceremonies,
as had been done in England by Lanfranc,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in the case of William
Rufus. Menteith's arguments prevailed, and
Alexander III. was invested by the prelate
botli with the belt of knighthood and the crown
of royalty on the 13th of July, 1249. It was
well that on this occasion the proposed delay
had been set aside, for Hemy III., hoping to
succeed in what had now become his favourite
object, had applied to Pope Innocent IV. for a
prohibition of the young sovereign's coronation
without his permission, Alexander, as he alleged,
being liis liegeman. lie also requested Innocent
to grant him a tenth of the ecclesiastical reve-
nues of Scotland, under the pretext of using it
in a new crusade for the recovery of the Holy
Sepulchre. The pontiff was not to be deceived
with these professions which the EugUsh king
had so often used for raising money, and he
rejected both applications — the first, because it
would be an insult to a sovereign prince ; and
the second, because it was without a precedent.

In the second year of Alexander's reign a
scarcely leas dangerous event for his independ-

ence occun'ed ; this was his mai-riage with Mar-
garet, the daughter of Henry, to whom he had
been betrothed in infancy. The union was cele-
brated at York on the 26th of December, 1251,
when the bridegi'oom was onlj' ten yeai-s old and
the bride stUl younger; and the extravagant
pomp and display of the marriage feast would
have been traly ludicrous had it not been the
type of an alliance between two great rival king-
doms. Such was the immense concoui-se which
assembled in York that the ceremony had to be
performed in secret and at an earlier hour than
tliat announced. Of illustrious attendants alone
there were more than a thousand knights and
nobles, English, Scotch, and French, glittering
in silken robes; while to the marriage feast
itself more than sixty pasture-fed oxen were
contributed by the Archbishop of York — which
formed the fii'st and principal course at table.
The archbishop, indeed, as prince of the county,
was the chief landlord and entertainer of this
aristocratic multitude; and by banquets, accom-
modations to the guests, and presents of gold
and silver, " he sowed on a barren shore four
thousand marks which he never afterwiuds
reaped."' Henry, indeed, attemjited to make
a harvest out of the prelate's liberality by en-
deavouring to entrap the inexperienced boy
into concessions imfavourable to the liberties of
his kingdom ; and accordingly, when Alexander
had done homage for the territories he held in
England, his father-in-law demanded homage
to be done for Scotland also, according, as he
alleged, to the practice of his predecessors. But
Alexander, who had probably been prepared by
his counselloi-s for such an event, answered
bolilly and briefly. He had come, he said, upon
a ijcaceful purpose, and in full reliance uiwu
the honour of the English king, and not to

) Matthew Paris.

130

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1249-1286.

answer such a difficult question, especially as
he had not consulted upon it with his nobles or
given it due deliberation. This reply silenced
the King of England ; and after the usual tour-
naments, pageants, and merry-makings, Alex-
ander returned to his kingdom as free as he
had left it.

It was during these York festivities also that
the King of England, as if desirous to increase
the difficulties of Scottish affairs, pretended to
have discovered a plot by which, if real, the
succession of his daughter's children would have
been placed in imminent jeopardy. Alan Dur-
ward, that is Doorward, or in Latin Ostiarius,
the Justiciary of Scotland, and a nobleman of
great influence and ambition, had married a
natui-al daughter of Alexander II., whom he
had persuaded Robert, Abbot of Dunfermline
and chanceDor of the kingdom, to legitimatize
according to the form of law. The King of
England now accused Durward of having sent
messengers and presents to the pope to obtain
the legitimation of his daughters also by the
king's sister, so that, in the event of the young
sovereign's death, they should be lawful heirs
to the crown. These charges by another ac-
count were brought forward not by Hem-y
himself, but by the Earls of Menteith and Mar,
who seem to have been at feud with the Os-
tiarius; but if they were the accusers, it is pro-
bable, from the rewai-d they reaped, that they
acted under the English king's direction. Cer-
tain persons who were accused as partakers in
this conspiracy fled from York; Roger, the Scot-
tish chancellor, resigned his office, and took
shelter as a monk in the cloisters of Newbattle;
while Alan Dm'ward some time after became a
soldier of Henry, and followed him in his wars
to France. As for Menteith and Mar they were
appointed, through the influence of Henry, to
the guardianship of their young king.'

Besides the train of English knights which
Henry III. sent to escort his daughter into
Scotland, he had promised to Alexander that
he would send him prudent and faitliful coun-
sellors to advise with the Scottish nobles on all
matters connected with him and his queen.
This promise he fulfilled by sending Geoffrey
de Langley, his keeper of forests, who, under
the guise of counsellor, was to perform the office
of spy at the Scottish court and pi-omoter of his
master's designs against its independence. But
his odious function, and the arrogance with which
he discharged it, soon made him be expelled
from the kingdom. Still har]iing upon an ex-
pedition to the Holy Land, Henry in 1254 ob-
tained a grant from Pope Innocent IV. not of

' Fordun, lib x, c. 5; Chron. Uelros, 219.

a tenth, but a twentieth of the ecclesiastical
revenues of Scotland for three yeai-s, which were
afterwards extended to four. It is unnecessary
to add that none of this money found its way
to Palestine. On the same year lie sent into
Scotland Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester.
With what particular mission this mo.st politic
of England's barons was intrusted by his sove-
reign does not appear ; but its nature may be
surmised from the increase of dissensions that
followed among the Scottish nobility. At the
head of one faction were the Comyns, of whom
Robert de Ros and John de Baliol were osten-
sibly, but not in fact, the regents of the dis-
tracted kingdom; while among their opponents
who were supported by the King of England,
were Robert de Brus or Bruce, and Alexander
steward of Scotland. In this portentous an-
tagonism we recognize the commencement of
that rivalry and those contending claims, which
were afterwards so pregnant with calamities to
the nation at large.

Among the several pretexts of the English
faction in Scotland were the pretended sufier-
ings of the young queen ; and these complaints
afforded Henry an opportunity of sending his
chief secretary MaunseU and the Earl of Glou-
cester into Scotland ostensibly to inquire into
her grievances and redress them, but in reality
to strengthen that coalition of the nobles who
were opposed to the Comjns. To second their
efforts he approached with an army towards
the Boi'der, and from Newcastle on the 25th of
August (1255) he issued a proclamation couched
in the most gentle terms, professing that his
journey was one of love and courtesy towards
his dear sou Alexander, and that he would do
nothing prejudicial to lus rights and the liber-
ties of Scotland. In the meantime Gloucester
and Maunsell, on approaching Edinburgh, dis-
missed their train, and pretending to be humble
knights of the household of Robert de Ros, they
obtained admittance into the castle, where the
king and queen resided. There they were soon
joined by their armed followers, and by the
Earls of Carrick, Strathern, and Dunbar ; and,
having both the castle and the royal couple in
their possession they proceeded to inquire into
the queen's alleged grievances. But these for
the most part were either frivolous or unfounded.
She complained that she w;is immured in this
sad and solitary castle, where she could neither
breathe a wholesome air nor enjoy the sight of
green fields. She was not allowed to travel
through the kingdom as a queen ought to do,
or to have special attendants, or even her young
damosels to wait upon her as ladies of the
chamber. She also complained of her conven-
tual life, as being secluded from the marital

A.D. 1249-1286.1

ALEXANDER III.

181

society of Alexander, who was now almost
fourteen yeara old. By aU this it was made to
appear that the C'omyns had plotted not only
to engross the present rule of the kingdom, but
peradveuture the future royal succession also,
on account of the nearness of their relationship
to the throne. The last of the young queen's
gi-ievances was immediately redressed, and the
removal of the rest in due time was promised.
But the treacherous capture of the castle of
Edinburgh had roused the indignation of the
C'omyns; the nobles of their party flew to arms,
and surrounded the fortress; but, on learning
the safety of the royal pair, or rather finding
that they were at one with the English faction,
they retired, Robert de Ros, as the chief person
inculpated, offering on certain conditions en-
suring his own personal safety, to appew before
the royal tribunal and answer every charge
brought against him. But as it did not suit
Henry and the English party to give him a
liearing, Ros and John BaUol were deprived of
the regency, and at the instance of Henry, who
had come as far as Kelso for the purpose, a new
government was appointed that included the
whole of the clergy and nobility who were favour-
able to the views of England. This new rule
was to continue, with Henry as "principal coun-
seOor," till Alexander had reached the age of
twenty-one. Having thus settled the adminis-
tration of Scottish affaii-s according to his own
selfish purposes, the English king returned
home, taking care to indemnify himself on the
way for the expenses of the expedition. Not
contented, therefore, with confiscating the estates
of de Ros which he held in England, and selling
a pardon to John de Baliol, he visited the abbeys
and priories of liis homeward route through the
English coimties, commending himself to the
prayers of the abbots, and extorting from them
their money. In this way, after devoutly wor-
shipping in the Ciithedral of Durham at the
tomb of St. Cuthbert, he rose from his knees to
break open the rich treasury which had been
considered inviolate, and to carry from it by
force all the gold and silver he could find under
the name of a loan. Such was the king by whom
tlie Scottish counsels were now to be directed.'
The departure of Henry was the signal for
the C'omyns to rally from their depression; and
the firet victory they obtained over their op-
ponents was the restoration of Gamelin, one of
their clerical adherents, to the bishojiric of St.
Andrews, from which he had been displaced by
the opposito faction. Independently of the three
eai'ls and thirty-two knights who comprised
their powerful family, and the numerous barons

■ Matthew Paris.

who adopted their cause as a patriotic quarrel,
the Comyns had the pope in their favour, who
excommunicated the new counsellors, and were
supported by Maiy de C'ouci, widow of Alex-
ander II., and her husband John of Acre, who
happened at that time to visit Scotland. Thus
armed with political and spiritu;d arguments,
and having at their call the lance of the man-
at-arms and the censm'es of the priest, they in-
creased in boldness ; and being desirous of re-
covering possession of their young monarch,
they attacked Kinross, where he was sojourning,
at midnight, sm-prised him in his bed, and carried
him off with his young queen to StU'ling. Pos-
sessed of the pei-son of royalty, they were now
more than a match for their Scottish rivals; and,
to strengthen themselves against an invasion
from England, they entered into a league with
the Welsh, at that time straggling for their
independence. Feeling that they could now
dictate their own terms at the sword-jioint,
they mustered their armed retainers, and with
the king in their company marched against then-
opponents; but the adherents of the cause of
Henry, not finding themselves strong enough to
meet their rivals in the field, fled to England.
Here they opened negotiations, in the course of
which they endeavoured to recover their in-
fluence by seizing the young king's person; but
Alexander was too well guarded by the C'omyns
to fall into the snares that were laid for him.
By the treaty which was at last concluded be-
tween the pai-ties, Henry III. lost the greater
pai't of those advantages for which he had been
so insidiously toiling. The counsellors of his
former election were, with a few exceptions,
displaced; and in their room a new regencj' was
appointed, of which the principal pei-sonages
were Mary de C'ouci, and her husband John of
Acre, Gamelin, Bishop of St. Andrews, the
three earls of the house of Comyn, and Alan
Durward, who had shifted sides, and been
alternately the ablest ally and most dangerous
antagonist of the patiiotic party. Such were
the piincipal changes of this singulai* drama, as
far as they can be distinguished in so remote a
distance and among such rude actoi-s. In the
movements of Henry we recognize a craft upon
which his son Edward I. gi-eatly refined, and to
which he brought such boldness, military skill,
and political wisdom as Henry never possessed.
These events in Scotland were succeeded by
a domestic tragedy with which the public his-
tory of the period was closely connected. The
hero of the Comyn faction, by whose sjigaeity and
eounnge its proceedings hati been so prosper-
ously couductt'd, was Walter, Earl of Menteith
— the s;ime powerful noble who liad ailvocated
the immediate coronation of Alexander III. in

132

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1249-1286.

opposition to the suspicious delays proposed by
Alan Durward. Walter, who might now be
considered as the head of the new regency, most
suddenly and mysteriously died ; but while it
was asserted in England that he had been killed
by a fall from his hoi-se, in Scotland it was de-
clared that he had been caiTied off by poison
administered by his countess. This lady, who
seems to have possessed the lauds of Menteith
in her own right, soon after shocked the feel-
ings of the Scottish nobility by marrying John
Eussel, a ceiiain obscui-e Enghshman who was
alleged to have been her paramour, and to make
way for whom she was now openly accused of
having removed her late husband. In conse-
quence of this charge she and her partner were
thrown into prison, and Walter Stewart, a bro-
ther of the Stewai-d of Scotland, who had mai--
ried the younger sister of the countess, now
laid claim in right of his wife to the lands and
eai'ldom of Menteith which had been forfeited
by the crime. The parliament sustained his
appeal, and the elder countess, branded with the
double crime of poisoning her husband and con-
tracting a clandestine marriage with a foreigner,
was stripped of her possessions and banished.

In these prompt procaedlngs the Scottish par-
liament had probably acted according to the
established law. But here the matter was not
to rest. Four years aftenvards (a.d. 1262)
Pope Urban IV. adopted it as a matrimonial
question, and therefore lying under the cog-
nizance of the chm-ch ; and he sent to York
his deputy Pontius, with fuU power to inquire
into the wrongs complained of by the banished
and bereaved countess. Walter Stewart, now
Earl of Menteith, most of the nobility of Scot-
land, and the principal priests and prelates of
the kingdom were accordingly summoned by
Pontius to appear at York and give their testi-
mony in the case before this ecclesiastical tri-
bunal. But this citation awoke the. old spii-it
of independence, and Alexander, standing upon
his royal rights, refused the legate as a judge,
and referred himself and his subjects to the
direct judgment of the pope. In this way the
tribunal erected at York was unable to pro-
noimce a decision. Again, however, this vexa-
tious controvei-sy was revived in 1273, and under
different ch-cumstances, for it was in behalf of
WiUiam Comyn, who had married the daughter
of the elder Countess of Menteith, and who now
claimed to succeed to her inheritance. He was
backed in his application by his father John,
the head of the famDy, who probably thought
his power sufficient to shake the firmness of
Alexander and obtain his permission for a new
trial to be held at York ; but the king stiU
refused his consent, and this second attempt

was also abortive ; he would not allow a coui-t
to be held for the trial of Scottish subjects be-
yond the limits of his own kingdom. At length,
in 1 2S5, the controversy, which w;is now mainly
reduced to one of civil inheritance, was brought
before the parliament at Scone as its proper
place, and with a more decisive result. W<uter
Stewait was allowed to retain the title of the
earldom and half of the lands of Menteith,
while the other half was erected into a barony
and bestowed upon William Comyn.

While such were the legal results occasioned
by the suspicious death of Walter Comyn, Earl
of Menteith, the event was of great importance
to Henry. The gi'eatest opponent of his schemes
against Scottish independence was thus removed,
and Alexander bereaved of his wisest counsellor.
Eager to profit by such an unexpected chance,
the King of England invited his son-in-law and
daughter to visit him in London, and there
treat with him of important mattera connected
with the welfare of both kingdoms. But the
nature of the message and the character of
Henry roused the jealousy of the Scottish nobles;
they suspected the tenor of these important
matters which were thus .vithheld from the
council, and were indignant at this continual
interference of the English king in the affairs
of an independent kingdom. A mission of cer-
tain of their number to London was the result,
and their consent to the royal visit was only
obtained under certain concessions to which
Henry solemnly pledged himself. These were
that neither the King of Scotland nor his at-
tendants should be required to treat of state
affaii-s duiing his visit; that if the queen be-
came pregnant in England Henry would not
detain her, nor her child, if it should be born
there ; that the queen should undergo her ex-
pected confinement at herfathei-'s court; and that
in the event of Alexander's death Hem-y would
suiTender the infant to the thu'teen Scottish
prelates and nobles who now composed the
regency, or to any three of then- number. With
these guarantees Alexander with a noble train
repaired to England, while his queen, who would
soon become a mother, followed him by easy
stages. But more important affau-s than those
of court ceremony and chivalrous pageants were
connected with the Scottish kings visit, al-
though of these there was gi-eat profusion ; he
wished to be invested in his rights over Hunt-
ingdon, the grant of which had been renewed
to him by Henry on a visit he made to London
in 1256, and to obtain payment of the queen's
marriage portion, which Henry had hitherto
been too poor to dischai-ge.^ Diuing this visit

1 It was uot till A.D. 1263 (nearly three years afterwards

A.D. 1249-1286.]

ALEXANDER III.

133

the period of the queen's delivery drew nigh,
and she was prevailed upon to await the event
at the English court ; while her husband, satis-
fied with Henry's guarantees on this head, re-
turned to Scotland. In February, 12G1, was
born his daughter Margaret at Windsor, who
twenty years afterwards was man-ied to Eric,
King of Norway.

While the Scots were thus resisting the en-
croachments of England, their independence
was threatened from a ditferent quai-ter. The
Norse chieftain.s, who had established numer-
ous small sovereignties of their owu over the
Western Islands, had ever been dangerous neigh-
bours to Scotland; but the superior power of
the latter had at length prevailed, and several
of the island chiefs who had hitherto maintained
their allegiance to the parent country of Nor-
way were glad to transfer it to the Scottish
crown. But those who .still resisted were too
formidable to be overlooked; the possessions
which in some instances they had established
upon the Scottish coasts made their piratical
visits dangerous to the peace of the country;
and Alexander II., as we have already seen,
had died in the expedition which had for its
object the reduction of these northern reguli to
peaceful and obedient Scottish liegemen. This
purpose was resumed by Alexander III., and
the Hebrides were invaded by the Earl of Ross
aided by several island chieftains. It was, there-
fore, a wUd war of one set of barbarians against
another, in which every passion was let loose
and all the atrocities of the old Norse campaigns
resumed ; but the heaviest visitation seems to
have fallen upon the invaded of these islands,
whose cliurches were wantonly destroyed, and
whose children were impaled alive in savage
sport upon the pikes of the ruthless invadere.

Loud complaints of these atrocities were car-
ried to the coui-t of Norway, and Haco its king
resolved to exact a terrilile retribution. He
therefore made preparations not only to protect
his faithful vassals of the Hebrides but to in-
vade Scotland itself, and his muster of troops
aud shipping at the port of Bergen was upon
the most formidable scale. But this danger
which threatened Scotland in the first instance
might, if the expedition should succeed, be
extended to England also ; and the invasion of
Hardrada could not be forgot, through which
the English army had been so seriously weak-
ened before the battle of Hastings. Tliis was
enough to make Henry III. interpose his good

that Henry contrived to pay flvo Immlrcil marks of this
dnwry, liy which Ills treasury was fairly cmptieil. For pay-
ment uf tlie rest he w.as ol>liKe(I to crave a delay, with the
promise that he wouM be more punctual than he hail been
hitherto.— Lord llailcs, vol. i.

oflSces, independently of his wish that no one
should intermeddle with Scotland but himself,
and A.D. 1262 he sent messengers to Haco to
pensuade him to desist from his purpose. The
Norwegian monarch assured Henry in reply
that he had no purpose to invade Scotland, and
hastened his preparations.

All being in readiness the Norwegian fleet,
commanded by Haco in person, set sail on
the 7th of July, and directed its course to
the Scottish coasts. If we may believe the
Norse accounts no such storm from the north
had gathered against the shores of Albion since
the piratical days of Harold and Canute, when
whole kingdoms were plundered or won by a
single onset. The ai-mament consisted of more
than a hundred tall ships, the decks of which
were crowded with soldiera arrayed in shining
armour, while from the top-masts fluttered the
banners of their jarls and captains. The .ship
of Haco, towering over the rest, was furnished
with twenty-seven banks of oars. The protec-
tion or plunder of the islands was the first object
of the armament, and after visiting Shetland it
anchored for some time in a bay of the Orkneys,
from which parties were sent out to ravage the
coast of Caithness, lately in allegiance to Norway,
but now reduced to a Scottish province. The
fleet then crossed the Pentlaud Firth, and
directed its course by the Lewes and the Isle
of Skye, gathering in its progress reinforce-
ments from the King of Man and other tribu-
tary chieftains of the isles, until it amounted to
an hundred and fifty ships. But grievous was
the condition of those little potentates who had
abandoned their fealty to Norway as a country
too remote either to trouble or protect them.
Their rejected sovereign was now at their doors,
and his legions made terrible havoc upon the
lands of those who still halted in their allegiance
between him and King Alexander. After carry-
ing dismay or compelling submission over the
islands of the Hebrides and the neighbouring
coasts, while their presence was little known, or
but vaguely understood in the heart of the
kingdom, the whole fleet of 150 ships entered
the Firth of Clyde, presenting such a spectacle
to its shores as they had never yet witnessed.

In this manner the Scottish government was
taken in a gi"eat measure at unawares, and only
warned of the danger by the actual presence of
the enemy. To treat with assailants whom at
present they were too weak to resist was the
sole expedient of Alexander and his counsellors,
and a deputation of Barefooted Friars was sent
to Haco, to learn ujjou what terms he would
agree to peace. Haco claimed .is its price not
ordy the whole Hebrides, but also the islands
of Bute, Arran, and the C'umbraes in the Firth

134

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1249-1286.

of Clyde, while Alexander, wlio was willing to
yield possession of the islands of the Hebrides
to Norway, refused to cede those of the Clyde,
which woiUd have established a formidable
enemy within a two-days' march of his capital.
Thus the negotiation was protracted, and nothing
granted, although Haco, impatient of delay, at
last proposed in chivalrous phrase the iinal
arbitration of kings and conquerors, and invited
Alexander to meet him at the head of his army,
and try the question by a decisive battle between
Scotland and Norway. But the wisdom of this
dilatoriness on the part of the Soots was soon
apparent. Then- forces were mustering in every
quarter; the provisions of the invaders were
exhausted ; and the mild autumnal breezes,
which had been so propitious to the Norwegian
sails, were now beginning to be exchanged for
those winter storms against which no fleet could
keep together, and which were especially dan-
gerous among rocks and treacherous sands that
would baffle the pilotage of strangers. The
Norwegians had been lulled into security until
the elements themselves, as well as Scottish
valour, should strike for Scotland.

Finding a peaceful settlement hopeless, Haco
at last resorted to those measures which he
should have adopted at the beginning. He had
already expended the best season for action in
the recovery of petty islands and the chastise-
ment of revolted chieftains, instead of striking
at Scotland itself when his coming would have
been unexpected ; and he now sent at the last
hour a fleet of forty sail up the Clyde under the
command of Magnus, King of Man, accompanied
by four Hebridian chiefs and two Norwegian
captains. They sailed into Loch Long, and on
reaching the head of the loch they dragged
several galleys across the narrow isthmus separ-
ating it from Loch Lomond and launched them
upon the peaceful waters of the latter lake.
The beautiful islands with which that lake is
begemmed, and upon which the eyes of travel-
lers from every land were centuries afterwards
to gaze with such delight, were then, it seems,
studded with cottages, and at this season of
danger were probably more populous than was
wont, from the crowds that may have fled to
tliem as places of safety. But soon the houses
were ashes, and the islands themselves the
homes of desolation and death, as well as the
shores in the neighbourhood, which the rovers
wasted with fire and sword. Allan, one of the
chiefs of the expedition, then made a dash across
the country into Stirlingshire, where he slew
many of the inhabitants, and returned with
welcome supplies in the form of many hundreds
of cattle. But now the winter storms com-
menced, and announced to the Norwegians the

fate that was in store for them; for ten of their
ships were wrecked in Loch Long, and Ivar
Howm, one of their captains, died either of
fatigue or grief. Soon after a second storm
burst upon the main body of the fleet that was
anchored between the Cumbraes on Monday,
the 1st of October, and such was its violence,
that at midnight the stout ship of Haco was all
but thrown on shore in spite of the eight an-
chors that were successively thrown out to keep
her fast to her moorings. Five ships that were
not so well found as the royal galley were flung
upon the coast and reduced to wrecks, and the
rovera that manned them were attacked by the
Scots on the shore, and would have been over-
come but for the boats' crews which Haco sent to
bring them oft'. When the morning dawned upon
the scattered armament of dism;isted ships, and
the hulks lying on shore, the Norwegians, accus-
tomed as they were to the wars of the ocean,
thought that such a storm could only have been
raised by the supernatural agency of magic; and
in this belief the king caused his boat to be put
out and rowed to the Cumbraes, where he caused
a solemn mass to be performed, in the hope that
it would counteract the powers of darkness and
bridle the fui-y of the elements.

After this act of devotion, and when the
morning had fully broke, Haco went ashore
upon the mainland with about eight or nine
hundred men to prepare for the disembarking
of his whole forces ; and while he occupied the
strand with this detachment, an additional band
of two hundred men was stationed further on-
ward upon the height. The Scottish army
now apjjeared in fuU march for the encoun-
ter, and presented a very formidable aspect;
for, besides their numerous infantry, chiefly
armed with bows and speare, they had fifteen
hundred hoi-semen, who were knights or barons
armed completely in mail, and many of them
mounted upon Spanish horses that, like their
riders, were protected with steel armour. The
first brunt of their onset fell upon the Nor-
wegians stationed on the height above where
the town of Largs now stands ; but this body
fell back toward the shore, seeing the hopeless-
ness of resistance, and fearing to be surrounded.
In the meantime Haco, who was at the head of
the main detachment, had resolved to abide the
unequal encounter in person until reinforce-
ments should arrive from the shipping; but in
this generous purpose he was opposed by the
equal devotedness of his oflScere, who feared for
his safety, and compelled him to return to the
fleet that he might hasten the landing of their
comrades.

And now commenced what has been called
the Battle of Largs, which was rather a series

A.D. 1249-1286.]

ALEXANDER III.

135

of skirmishes along the shore than a single re-
gular engagement. It commenced also with
great advantage to the Scots, for the Norwegians
upon the height who liad retired at their ap-
proach soon changed their retreat into a flight,
and communicated their panic to the main body;
and while some were preparing for the en-
counter, others were hurrying to the boats in
headlong confusion, or to the transport that lay
near the shore. While thus overloaded boats
were sinking, and the shouts of commanders
recalling the fugitives only added to the wild
uproar, the Scots, who are described as having
outnumbered their enemies by ten to one, began
the battle with a shower of stones and darts,
and then pressed onward to closer encounter.
One incideut of this fight will show the spirit
in which it was conducted. A gaUant Scottish
knight called Sir Piers de Curry, distinguished
by a helmet and armour inlaid with gold, and
adorned with gay sparkling stones, was also
conspicuous by his daring courage, for he re-
peatedly galloped alone up to the front of the
Norsemen and defied them to the encounter.
At length Andrew Nickolson, one of the Norse
commanders, accepted the challenge, and dealt
Sir Piers such a blow with his sword tliat it
shore through his leg-armour, lopped his thigh
from liis body, and left a dint in the saddle
wliere the edge of the weapon was arrested. A
furious struggle now commenced over the body,
the Norwegians stniggling to spoil it of the rich
armour which they coveted ; and at this point
their resistance was the keenest and the gi'eatest
slaughter committed. It was in vain, however,
that the more anxious of the invadei-s looked
seaward for the arrival of fresh troops and their
king: during the fight a third stonn had arisen,
and with such violence that no troops could be
landed, except a few volunteers who boldly
threw themselves into boats without permis.sion,
and fought their way through the war of the
tempest to the shore to aid their countrymen.
Tliis slight reinforcement revived the courage
of the Noi-semen : they made a desperate rally
against tlieir assailants, whom they drove back
to the heights above the shore, and thus gained
time to secure a retreat for the whole detach-
ment in their boats, that pulled for the Cura-
braes, and reached their tempest-beaten fleet in
safety.

But even when the wrath of man had done
its worst tlie stonn still continued to war against
the armament, and ship after sliij) was stranded
upon the lee shore of Ayrahire, broken upon the
rocks, or shattered in collision witli other ves-
sels running adrift; so that besides the slain
who had fallen in battle the shore was covered
with the corpses of the drowned and heajw of

drifted tickle and broken timbers. Haco then
craved a short truce to bury the dead, which
was done upon the shore and in the Cumbraes,
where mounds and memorial-stones were erected
to their memory. After setting fire to those
stranded vessels that could not be removed, he
directed his course to Airan and cast anchor in
Lamlash Bay. Here he was met by a deputa-
tion he had sent to the Danish party in Ireland
called the Ostmen, who had formerly applied to
him when he first arrived at the Hebrides,
offering to become his vassals if he would aban-
don the Scottish expedition and come to their
aid against the English. These messengei's re-
turned with such promises of help from the
Ostmen, and flattering hopes of conquest and
booty in Ireland, that the Noi-wegian king was
wUling to attempt the trial rather than return
home without honour; but in this he was op-
posed by his captains, whose marauding ardour
had been cooled by their late disasters. He
therefore sailed back to the Hebrides ; but his
shattered fleet was so unlike the resistless arma-
ment which had formerly exacted theii- homage
that the Hebridian chieftains stood aloof, or
even attacked and cut off his followers when
they landed. On the 29th of October the fleet
anchored in Orkney after more storm and ship-
wi-eck and still greater diminutions from deser-
tion, as many of the vessels had parted com-
pany and straggled back to Norway without
leave or notice. At Orkney permission was
issued that all might return home ; but as for
the king, he was too sick of heart and exhausted
in body to return with them. His expedition
that had ended so difi'erently from the triumphs
of his predecessors, the disgrace that had closed
the wings of his raven banner which had lately
soared so proudly, and the trials and anxieties
he had sustained, had settled into a mortal dis-
ease; and in his chamber in Orkney this, the
last of those dreaded Scandinavian pirate kings
whose visits had been so ominous to Britain,
was stretched upon an inglorious death-bed
like a sick woman or a monk. His death was
a strange mixture of the old Bunic warrior and
the half-taught Norse Christian of the thirteenth
centurj-. He joined in pious convei'sation with
the attendant priests, and in the prayers and
services that were to prepare him for his final
departure ; and when these were over he con-
soled his last moments witli tiie chronicles of the
kings of Norway, which he caused to be read to
him that their tales of rapine and adventui-e
might soothe him into sleep. He received ex-
treme unction in the midst of this solace, and
on the ITith of December he expired.

Such was the event usually called the Battle
of Largs, which forms an important date iu the

136

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

history of Scotland. The accounts of it, how-
ever, are so contradictory, and have been so
extravagantly magnified, that, in spite of the
Norwegian graves on the spot and the tokens
that have been exhumed from them, it has
often been questioned whether any battle or en-
counter did actually take ])lace. But upon this
head the Noi'se accounts of the expedition are
too full and minute, and the acknowledgment of
its failure too full and -express, to tolerate such
scepticism. These accoiiuts probably lessen the
number of the Norwegian combatants and the
magnitude of their defeat ; but stUl they show
that Norway sustained a heavy national loss,
whUe Scotland obtained a signal deliverance. All
that they can do is to magnify the valour of the
" shielded warriors," the " throwei's of the whiz-
zing spear," and tell how gidlantly they resisted
before they were driven to their ships. From
the contradictory accounts it has also been con-
sidered doubtful whether the Scottish king was
present at the engagement. But Alexander was
now twenty-two years old, and can therefore
scarcely be supposed to be absent when the
military strength of his kingdom w;is mustered
for such an encounter. The common account,
which seems also the most probable, is that the
Scottish ai'my consisted of thi'ee divisions ; that
one of these, composed of the men of Perth,
Angus, the Meai-us, and the north, was com-
manded by the king ; the second, of the men of
Athole, Argyle, Lennox, and Galloway, by
Alexander, the High Stewai-d of Scotland; and
the third, comprising the troops of Lothian,
Fife, Stirling, Berwick, and the Mei-se, by
Patrick, Eai-1 of Dunbai-.

As if to fUl up the measure of hLs triumph,
Alexander, on the same day that tidings reached
him of the death of his formidable enemy Haco,
was also advertised of the bii-th of a son, his
expected successor in the thi'one. This event
occurred at Jedburgh on the 21st of January,
1264. Anxious to secui'e the fruits of his suc-
cess, the king collected troops for the purpose
of invading the island of Man and reducing it
to its former submission; but this movement
was anticipated by Magnus, the kiug of that
island, who repau-ed to Alexander at Dumfries
and renewed his homage, engaging, as the
token of his submission, to furnish to his liege-
lord of Scotland the services of five galleys with
twenty-four oars, and as many with twelve.
The Western Islands that had revolted from
their allegiance to the Scottish crown during
the late invasion were next to be chastised;
and this was done by the Earl of Mar, who
repaired thither with an army and discharged
his commission with the mOitary severity of
the period by executing the principal leaders of

[a.d. 1249-1286.

the revolt and wasting their territories. These
islands, with the exception of Orkney and Shet-
land, were now to form a part of the Scottish
government ; such of the inhabitants as would
not consent to live under its laws were allowed
to emigrate ; while Alexander bound himself on
his own part and that of his successors to pay
4000 marks, and a yearly sum of 100 marks
ever after, to the Norwegian government as a
quit-rent for the possession of these islands.
To this impoi-tant agi'eement between the two
kingdoms the pope was made arbiter, with fuU
power, on the failure of either, to exact a pen-
alty of 10,000 mai-ks from the offender.

WhUe this negotiation with the court of Nor-
way was under discussion, by which the integ-
rity of the Scottish kingdom was advancing to
completion, that of England was rent by a civil
war raised by the commons under the Earl of
Leicester against the privileges and despotism
of the nobles. Although Scotland as a nation
abstained from intei-fering, this neutrality could
scai'cely be expected from those of her Nonnan
magnates who had lai-ge possessions in England,
and whose feudal rights and interests were
therefore so much at stake. Accordingly John
Comyn, John BaHol, and Robert Brace, at the
head of a large party of their Scottish militaiy
retainers, marched into England as auxiliaries
of Henry III. and took part in his changeful
fortunes, untU they were relieved by his son,
afterwards Edward I., in the victory over Lei-
cester at Evesham. Dm-ing the battle of Lewes
which preceded it Bruce and Comyn were taken
prisoners, and the greater part of their Scottish
followers slain.

The rest of the reign of Alexander III. was
happily exempted from further war, but his
tranquillity was disturbed and the independ-
ence of the kingdom thi-eatened fi-om a more
formidable quai-ter than Norway. Cardinal
Ottobon de Fieschi, the papal legate in Eng-
land, in order to defray the expenses of his
visitation to the British islands, thought fit to
extend the impost over Scotland, which he had
never visited, of six mai-ks from each cathedral
and four from each parish church. This exac-
tion the king, with the advice of the clergy, re-
fused to sanction ; and on his appealing against
it to Rome, they contributed 2000 marks to
defray the expenses of the appeal. This fortu-
nate union, however, between the king and the
priesthood in behalf of their national rights
was almost destroyed by a serious misunder-
standing. A knight named Sir John Dunmore
having been excommunicated for certain offences
against the prior and convent of St. Andrews,
was shielded by the king, who required Gamelin,
the Bishop of St. Andrews, to rescind the sen-

A.D. 1249-1286.]

ALEXA^'DER III.

137

teiice. This the bishop coiild not do without
satisfaction being rendered by the culprit ; and
on being further urged he not only confirmed
the sentence, but excommunicated all Trho
should adopt the cause of Dunmore, with the
exception of the royal family. Incensed at this,
the king gave way to the legate and allowed
him to levy a part of the demanded contri-
butions. It was well, in the midst of this un-
haj)py variance between king and prelate, in
which the gieat question at issue was about to
be sacrificed, that the party interposed who
could do it with the best effect. Sii- John Dun-
more, the original cause of quaiTel, submitted
to ecclesiastical discipline, confessed his guilt,
and was absolved. The king and his clergj'
were once more united, and the fi-uits of their
union were soon apparent. The legate had re-
solved to visit Scotland, but to his demand for
admission they sent him a flat refusal. Offended
with this resistance and resolved to punish them,
Ottobon then sent a summons to all the Scottish
bishops requiring them to attend him in Eng-
land at whatever place he sliould think fit ; he
also sent in like manner to the clergy ordering
them to send two of their number, heads of
monasteries, as their representatives. But this
requisition, instead of being obeyed either in
letter or spirit, was answered in a different
fashion ; for the bishops sent only two of their
number, and the clergj- as many — not, however,
to tender the submission of the rest, but to
watch over the proceedings of the council ; and
when several canons affecting Scotland were
enacted at this meeting they inteiposed and
refused to recognize them.' They were there
as the representatives of a national independent
church, and they furnished such an example of
ecclesiastical intrepidity as was rare among the
priesthood of Europe. Such moral courage,
silent and unostentatious though it was, ought
to occupy a high place in the histoiy of Scottish
heroism.

To punish this dangerous example of dis-
obedience was now the aim of the pontiff, and
to effect it he resolved that the chastisement
should fall upon the lean purses of the Scottish
clergy as well as their national pride. He
therefore required them to pay a tenth of their
benefices to assist in the Crusade, and to pay it
to Henry III. of England, who in concert with
the King of France had resolved to make a
fresh effort to recover P.alestine from the infi-
dels. But this demand also Alexander and the
clergy rejected, declaring that Scotland itself

' Fnrdun. lib. x. c. 24. The prelates sent on this occasion
were tlie Bishops of Dunkeld and Dunblane; the repre-
sentatives of the clergy were the Abbots of Dunfermline
and Lindores.

VOL. I.

would furnish a proper complement of armed
men for the expedition. On this occasion, in-
deed, the Crusade in question was no longer an
empty pretext, for Ottobon had preached its
necessity with such effect that Edward, the son
of Henry, and 150 English barons and knights
had assumed the red cross and were preparing
to join the expedition of Louis IX. of France,
afterwards called Saint Louis. True to the pro-
mise that Scotland would furnish its own con-
tingent of cmsading soldiers, David Earl of
Athole, Adam Earl of Carrick, and several other
Scottish nobles embarked with their military
followers in 1268 to join the ill-fated expedition
from which so few returned. It was the last
effort of that rebgious spirit of Christendom
into which its chivalry had been directed. Ee-
ligious wars were stUl to continue, but to be
waged with different weapons as well as upon
questions of higher import.

In the meantime another part of the Scottish
dispute of independence had to be adjusted,
which referred to the right of England in the
collection of the tenths of the Scottish ecclesi-
astical revenues. Of this authorization of the
legate Henry III. was not Ukely to be neglect-
ful, and he had proceeded immediately to put
it into active use. His chiims were resisted by
the Scottish bishops, who once more appealed
from the legate to the pope. But something
more decisive than this was necessarj-, and they
resolved that the question should be tried at
another tribunal than that of the English
church or a Eoman legate. Accordingly they
held a provincial council of their own at Perth,
over which presided one of their bishops. It
was a daring step, but in justification they ad-
verted to the bull of Honorius IV. granted to
the Scottish clergy a.d. 1225, by which, in con-
sequence of their dislike to receive a legate
from Rome, they were permitted to hold such
a council for the regulation of the affaii-s of the
church. This permission, indeed, could have
been only meant to be temporally, but the am-
biguous language in which it was expressed
might be accepted as a grant for all time com-
ing ; and in this way the Scottish prelates were
not slow to interpret it. At this meeting of
Perth the business was commenced by two
canons being enacted, which continued in full
force in Scotland until the church itself was
overthrown by the Eeformation. By the first
canon it was decreed that an annual council
should be held in the kingdom; and by the
second, that each of the bishops should exer-
cise in rotation the office of " Protector of the
Statutes." In this way the Scottish priesthood
decreed their entire independence both of lega-
tine and English interference.

138

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1249-12S6.

About this i5eriod a romantic incident occurred
by which the future destinies of ScotLand were
to be mainly directed. Adam, Earl of Carrick,
■who in 1268 had repaii'ed to the Crusade, and
died in Palestine two years after, left no family
except a daughter Marjory, who in her own
right became Countess of Carrick. It happened
one day when this yoimg lady had gone out to
hunt in full feudal state, attended by a throng
of armed retainers and fair serving-women, that
their path was accidentally crossed by Robert
de Bruce, a young Scottish knight, the son of a
noble of the same name who was Lord of Annan-
dale in Scotland and Cleveland in England.
The knight was distinguished by that personal
beauty in which his family was afterwards so
pre-eminent, and the lady no sooner saw him
than she addressed him with kind salutations,
and besought him to join them in the lecrea-
tionsof the chase. Thenoble stranger demm-red,
but his refusal only increased her importunity;
and laying her own fair hands upon his bridle-
reins, " with a certain violence, if it is right to
say so,"' she conducted him to her castle of
Turnberry, and there kept him in gentle cap-
tivity for the space of fifteen days or more.
The result of this strange wooing may be easily
conjectured: the knight's I'eluctance was speedily
overcome, and the pair were wedded, not, how-
ever, in open day, and amidst a happy assem-
blage of theu' kindred, but by stealth, and in the
silent recesses of the towers of Turnberry ; for
the countess was a ward of the crown, and as
such, had committed treason by marrying with-
out the sanction of her liege sovereign. The
union could not long be concealed from the king,
and he proceeded to punish the chief delinquent
by the seizure of her castle and estates; but
these were afterwards restored to her upon the
payment of a heavy fine, and the fortunate
stranger in right of his wife became Earl of
Carrick, and one of the most powerful of the
Scottish nobles. From this union of romance
one of the most romantic of the heroes of his-
tory was born on the 11th of July, 1274. This
was Robert Bruce, the restorer of the Scottish
monarchy and liberator of Scotland, whose
origin, although so singular, was to be even
outdone by his subsequent career.

The coui-se of events in England was now
going onward in that direction which foreboded
a most undesirable connection with the safety
of Scotland. We have already seen the tortuous
and underhand measures which Henry III.
pureued in order to establish his claims of
superioiity over the latter country. These, as
well as the troubles which his insincere ad-

1 Fonlun, I, x. c. 29.

ministration produced in England, were brought
to a close on the 16th of November, 1272, when
he died after a reign of fifty-six yeai's. But a
more terrible enemy to Scotland was to succeed
in Edward I., his son, the heir of his ambitious
hopes and pwposes as well as of his crown and
sceptre. Edward, indeed, was at a distance,
being in France, on his return from the Cru-
sades, and apparently in no hurry to occupy the
throne that awaited him in England; but he
knew that England was quiet, and might be left
for a time to itself, while he scanned with severe
scrutiny the affaii-s of the kingdom of France,
in which he was afterwards to be an important
actor. His whole career, indeed, had been a
stern but most eflectual apprenticeship for the
varied course of war and politics of which his
after life was to be composed. At the battle of
Lewes, when only twenty-two years old, his first
military blunder was also his last; and so much
did he profit by the warning, that at the battle
of Evesham, which occuiTed only fifteen months
after, he succeeded by his skilful an-angements
in defeating the Earl of Leicester, justly ac-
counted one of the best warrioi-s of the age.
His next military service was as a soldier of the
cross; and in this chai-acter, while he endeared
himself to the religious enthusiasm of Europe,
he showed himself by his wonderful deeds in
this Syrian campaign to be almost the equal of
Richard Cceur de Lion in pereonal prowess, and
his superior in skilful generalship. With a
character and renown thus fitted to acquire
ascendency in a wai'like age and over men who
valued strength and courage as the best attri-
butes of humanity, he possessed a natm-al saga-
city that penetrated events with a glance, and
a hardness of feeling that never allowed him to
be diverted from his purpose by the pleadings
of pity or sympathy. Such was the king who
after more than four years' absence landed in
England, and wascrowned on the 19th of August,
1274. The English, proud of his warlike re-
nown, received him with an ecstasy of triumph.
They had been long weary of the inglorious
reign of his father, and they hoped that under
their new sovereign the losses which England
had sustained under Henry III. would be re-
paii'ed, and its defeats exchanged for victories
and conquests.

As yet, however, all wore the appearance of
calm between England and Scotland, and Alex-
ander, with his queen Margaret, the sister of
Edward, and a splendid retinue, repaired to
London to the coronation, the Scottish king
being fii-st careful to stipulate that this friendly
\'isit should be prejudicial in nothing to the
independence of his kingdom. The two kings
who thus met as equals and as brothere were of

THE CAPTURE OF ROBERT DE BRUCE BY THE
COUNTESS OF CARRICK.

It is not generally known that the marriage through which the Scottish
people obtained their most notable kin:; was brought about by the romantic
daring of a woman. The matter bet'ell in tiiis fashion. Marjory, Countess
of Carrick, was out hawking with her retinue, when it chanced that a young
Scottish knight rode across her path. The lady was taken, on the instant,
with the handsome bearing of the stranger, and besought him to join in
the sport. This the youth refused to do, even when she became impor-
tunate. IVhercKpon the Countess promptly seized his bridle-rein, and carried
him with gay insistance to her castle of Turnherry. There slie held him
captive; there she wooed him; and there they were at length secretly
married. And the son of this romantic marriage was King Robert Bruce,
who inherited his father's noble presence along with his mother's indomi-
table spirit.

THE COUNTESS OF CARRICK AND ROBERT DE BRUCE.

THE Cof NTESS CAPTURES DE BKt'CE AND CARRIES I
AFTERWARDS WEDDED. THEIR SON ROBER

M OFF TO TCRXB

ERRV Castle, where thev wer

BRICE WAS THE

VICTOR OF BANNOCKBI'RN.

Vol. i. n uS.

A.D. 1249-1286.] ALEXANDER III.

almost the same age, Alexander having oom-
meuced and Edward just completed his thirty-
fourth year. If the bUl of fare which Edward
sent before him from France as the rule for the
coronation feast had been properly obeyed,
which doubtless was the case, the Scots must
have been astonished at the profusion of the
banquet ; for it consisted of 380 head of cattle,
430 sheep, 450 pigs, 18 wild boars, 278 flitches of
bacon, and 19,660 capons and fowls,' not to speak
of pasties, " soteltes (subtleties)," cakes, jellies,
and fi-uits, with which it must have been accom-
panied, or the floods of wine, ale, and hippocras
which such mountains of good cheer demanded.
Half a year afterwards Margaret, Queen of
Scotland, died, by which a connecting tie be-
tween the two sovereigns was dissolved.

Although the recovery of the Holy Land was
now a hopeless enterprise, the proclamation of
a crusade was too profitable a pretext for taxa-
tion to be abandoned by the Roman see. Ac-
cordingly, among the other imposts of this kind,
was the tax of a tenth of all ecclesiastical bene-
fices in Scotland. This rate was also to be levied,
not according to former rating, but the real and
present value, and this the clergy were obliged
to return truly and upon oath, under the ten-or
of excommunication. To collect this the pope
sent Beuemund de Vicci, or, as he was vulgarly
called, Bagimont, into Scotland in 1275, and the
rent-roll of Scottish benefices which was drawn
uj) on this occasion is known under the name
of Bagimont's RoU. Finding this tax oppressive,
the clergy employed him as their advocate at
Rome to obtain an abatement by the restoration
of the old rating, but without effect.-

Hitherto Edward had found sufficient occu-
pation in the conquest and subjugation of Wales,
which he partially accomplished in 1277. Hav-
ing now found a breathing interval in the tem-
porary submission of the Welsh, he dh'ected his
attention to Scotland, not, however, with the
design of invading it, but of entrapping its king
into such feudal concessions as might at tit op-
portunity be turned to good account. And
nothing could be better suited for the jiurpose
than the form of homage rendered by the Scot-
tish kings for the lands they held in England,
as either some vague word or thoughtless cere-
monial might be interpreted into submission
for the kingdom at large. Accordinglj' Alex-
ander III. was required to render the wonted
homage befoie the English parliament at the
feast of Slichaelmas, a.d. 1278, and this he did
at Westminster in the form which was usu.-d on
such occasions : " I, Alexander, King of Scot-
land, do acknowledge myself the liegeman of

I Ej-mcr.

' Fordun, I. i. c. 3S.

139

my lord King of England against all deadly."
It was a feudal observance that implied no
degradation, for in this manner it was performed
not only by kings and sovereign princes to their
equals, but even in some cases their inferiors;
and it was thus that Edward himself was a
feudatoiy and liegeman to the King of France.
As if aware, however, of the purposes founded
on this visit, and careful to guard himself against
the appearance of submission even in the slight-
est points of the ceremony, Alexander desired
that the oath of homage should be received
through Robert Bruce, Eail of Canick ; and
when this was gi-anted the substitute took the
oath for his sovereign in the following words:
"I, Robert, Earl of Camck, according to the
authority given to me by my lord the King of
Scotland, in presence of the King of England,
and other prelates and barons, by which the
power of sweai'ing upon the soul of the King of
Scotland was conferred upon me, have, in pre-
sence of the King of Scotland, and commis-
sioned thereto by his special precept, sworn
fealty to Lord Edward, King of England, in
these words: — I, Alexander, King of Scotland,
shall bear faith to my Lord Edward, King of
England, and his heirs, with my life and mem-
bei-s, and worldly substance; and I shall faith-
fully perform the services, used and wont, /or
the lands and tenements which I hold of the said
king." Such was the fealty which Alexanderlll.
rendered, and which Edward I. consented to
receive. Even at this late hour, and before the
arrogant claimant himself who was so soon to
demand the submission of the whole kingdom
of Scotland, Alexander conceded nothing be-
yond what had been usually rendered for the
possessions of the Scottish crown in England.^

Having thus vindicated the liberties of his
kingdom and enjoyed a prosperous reign, Alex-
ander was anxious to provide for a succession
in the throne; and in 1281 he married his
daughter Margai-et to Eric, King of Norway.
From the dispai-ity of ages — the bride being
twenty-one years old, while the royal bride-
groom was only in his fourteenth year — it was
evidently a marriage of kingdoms and a union
of political interests; but as such it was a de-
sirable measure for Scotland, as it satisfied the
rival claims of Noi-way, and had a tendency to
reconcile the Norwegian population of the
islands to the Scottish rule. In the year fol-
lowing Alexander, the Prince of Scotland, then
a youth in the nineteenth year of his age,
married Margaret, the daughter of Guy, Earl
of Flanders. But here the fortunes of the Scot-
tish king had reached their culminating point,

' Focdera; Lord HaUes; Tytler'B BUtory <if Scotland.

140

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1249-12S6.

and all that followed was disappointment and
disaster. Soon after the last of these marriages
Margaret, the Queen of Norway, died, after
having been the mother of an infant daughter
known in Scottish history as the Maiden of
Norway; and in a few months after her brother
Alexander died, leaving no succession. The
King of Scotland was now childless, and the
only survivor to occupy his throne was an
infant, a female, and a foreigner. As it was
necessary to guarantee so precarious a succession
by all the sanctions that law could furnish,
Alexander III., a few days after the death of
his son, convoked a parliament, which was held
at Scone on the 5th of February, 1283-4. There
the prelates and nobles became bound to receive
the Maid of Norway as their sovereign, failing
any children who might be born to the king,
and failing the issue of the Prince of Scotland,
deceased.

These hopefiU reservations were well advised.
The recentness of the young prince's marriage
made it uncertain as yet whether his widow
might not present an heir to the Scottish crown ;
and as for the king, he was a widower and still
in the prime of life. After a sufficient lapse of
time had shown that the first expectation was
fi-uitless, Alexander again married, and his
choice was Joleta or loland, the young and
beautiful daughter of the Count of Dreux. The
future queen was brought over in royal state to
Scotland, and the marriage, as a joyful national
event, was celebrated at Jedburgh with great
pomp, the French nobles who attended loland
seeming to vie with those of Scotland in the pro-
cessions, pageantries, and masqueradings with
which the forest of Jedwood was animated on
this happy occasion (April, 1285). But amidst
this mirth there came forth a handwriting on
the wall. A gay choral march was presented,
but there followed it a figui'e with regard to
which the onlookers were in doubts whether it
might be human or a phantom, for it was a
form in the likeness of Death; and while it
seemed to glide, rather than touch the ground
as it walked, it suddenly vanished from their
view, they knew not how. The laugh that
arose was suddenly checked with a shudder;
the acting of such a stern reality was too good
to be pleasant, and after-events made it be re-
membered with compunction as a profanity, or
awe as a prophecy.^

In the same year the unconscious prediction
of the masquerading phantom was feai'fuUy

' Fordun, 1. x. c.

realized. Eidiug at a late hour near Kinghom,
Alexander was advised by his attendants, as
the night was dark and the road dangerous, not
to continue his journey to Inverkeithing till
the morning; but rejecting their counsel, he
continued to gallop forward untO his horse sud-
denly stumbled upon a rocky cliff, by which he
was thrown from the saddle and killed on the
spot. This unexpected close occun-ed when he
had lived forty-five years and reigned thii-ty-
seven (Mai-ch 16, 1285-86). "Let no one," says
Fordun earnestly and affectionately, " be in
doubt, from the suddenness of his death, about
the entrance of such a king into heaven, for, as
it is said, 'He cannot die ill who has lived well.'"
Seldom has a royal demise been so deeply
deplored by a whole nation, and this not merely
from the immediate loss, but the whole cen-
turies of calamity it occasioned. Alexander III.
is described as having been large-boned, of tall
and commanding stature, and a pleasant open
countenance — the index of his mind — while his
affability endeared him to his subjects. He
was also devout notwithstanding his ecclesi-
astical quarrels, and chaste and temperate at a
period when royal and princely examples went
strongly in an opposite current. The firmness
of his administration was attested in the reso-
lute stand which he made for the independence
of his kingdom both against Rome and Eng-
land ; and its wisdom in the annexation of the
Western Islands to the Scottish crown, and his
propitiation of Norway to the measure. He was
a strict unwearied dispenser of justice, and in
this character he made an annual progress
through his kingdom, which he divided into
four circuits, visiting each in turn, attended by
its sheriff and armed militia. At these tri-
bunals his prompt decisions were grateful to
his subjects, who, like all rude communities,
were impatient of the delays and refinements
of a perfected legislation. Thus the people were
happy and the nation was steadily advancing in
prosperity, in political consequence, and the arts
of civilization. It speaks, indeed, not a little
for his reign that the following stanzas, so often
quoted in commemoration of its blessings, con-
stitute the earliest effort of the Scottish muse,
as far as has yet been discovered : —

" Quhen Alysandyr, our kyng was dede,
That Scotland led in luwe and le,
Away wes sons of ale and brede,
Of wyne and was, of gamyn and gle.
Oure gold wes changyd into led©, —
Clirist, born into vii'gynyte,
Succour Scotland, and remede,
That stad is in perplexytfe."

A.D. 650-1286.]

HISTORY OF EELIGIOX.

141

CHAPTER V.

HISTORY OF RELIGION (650-1286).

Condition of the Culdee Church — Doctrines of the Culdees — Opposition of their doctrines to those of Rome —
Attempt to suppress the Culdees commenced in Xorthumbria — Council held at Whitby for a trial between
the two churches — Debate on the occasion — The Roman Church preferred — Suppression of the Culdee
Church in England — Adamnan, Abbot of lona, converted to the Church of Rome — Mode of his conversion
—His ineffectual attempts to gain over his brethren of lona — Endeavours of King Xectan to establish the
Roman Church in Pictland — His treatment of the monks of lona — lona ravaged by the Danes— Gradual
suppression of the Culdees in Scotland — Modes in which it was effected — Ascendency obtained by the
Church of Rome in Scotland — First Scottish bishops — Appointment of Turgot to the bishopric of St.
Andrews — Contention between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the right of consecrating
Turgot — Its adjustment by the kings of England and Scotland — Eadmer appointed Bishop of St. Andrews
— The controversy between the archbishops revived — Eadmer retires to Canterburj' — His ineffectual
intercession to be recalled to St. Andrews — The claims of the Archbishop of York to the homage of the
Scottish Church unsuccessful — Liberal endowment of the church by David I. — Its immediate and remote
effects — Attempts to establish the supremacy of the English over the Scottish Church in the treaty for the
liberation of William the Lion — Terms agreed to by the Scottish clergy — Meeting held at Southampton to
receive their submission — The claim of the Enghsh Church eluded by the Scots — Speech of Canon Gilbert
on the occasion — Fresh troubles in the election of a Bishop of St. Andrews — Mode of John Scot's
election — Scot banished by the king — The pope interferes in his behalf — His unsuccessful attempts to
obtain the submission of the king and the Scottish Church — The king excommunicated and Scotland laid
under an interdict — Unexpected and favourable termination of the controversy — Avaricious and oppressive
treatment of the Scottish Church by Cardinal Gualo — Establishment of new monastic orders in the king-
dom— Continued resistance of the Scottish Church to the usurpations of Rome.

Although what may be called the Culdee
Church, as distinguished from that of Eome,
was established in Ireland, Scotland, the king-
dom of Northumbria, and various other por-
tions of England, its tenure of the islands of
Britain and Hibemia could neither be secure
nor lasting. Ireland was fast relapsing into
barbarism and national insignificance. Scot-
land w;v3 too remote in position and too uninflu-
ential in political character to have a potential
voice in the great family of European nations.
As for Northumbria, it was but a fi-action of
England which the other heptai'chic kingdoms
were ah'eady regarding with the odium theo-
logicum — the keen relentless eye of religious
jealousy and hatred. On the other hand, Ro-
manism had commenced tliat unfaltering march
which had the Eastern Church for its animat-
ing object of rivalry, and universal spiritual
dominion for its final accomplishment. That
resi.stless progress which had already extended
over the principal kingdoms of Europe was not
likely to be bounded by the bleak rocks of
Lindisfarne and lona. The pompous and allur-
ing ritual of Rome, her spiritual assumptions
and unscruijulous policy, must in the end jirove
too much in Britain, as they had done else-
where, for the primitive apostolic church wliioli
St. John had established in the East and
Columba transplanted to our shores. TIius the
days of Culdeeism were numbered, and she was
now awaiting the martyr's doom. An event so

important in the earliest stage of Scottish eccle-
siastical history as the downfall of the Culdees
— an event extending in point of time from the
days of Kenneth Macalpin to those of Alexander
III. — is worthy of our particular attention.

It would greatly aid us at the outset of the
narrative if we could clearly ascertain those
particular tenets of the Culdees which so dis-
tinguished them from the prevailing coiTuptions
of Christendom and exposed them to its hatred
and pereecution. But here, unfortunately, our
knowledge is so limited that our account must
be confined to the following brief particulars,
which are chiefly derived fiom the testimony of
their enemies themselves, and therefore tlie more
worthy of credit.

We find, then, that the Cvddees rejected the
doctrine of the necessity of auricular confession,
and consequently that of penance and priestly
absolution.

Tliey did not believe in the existence of the
real presence in the sacrament, but regarded the
eucharist as a solemn act of religious comme-
moration.

They rejected the worship of saints and angels,
and on this account they dedicated their churches
to the Holy Trinity alone. It was only when
they were supplanted by a new order of monks
that a change was introduced in the case of the
church of Scone, which w:is dedicated anew by
Alexander I. not only to the Holy Trinity as
before, but also "to God himself, and St. Mary,

142

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 650-1286.

and St. Michael, and St. John, and St. Laurence,
and St. Augustine." If this was the commence-
ment of saiut-woi-ship in Scotland, of which
there appeai-s a strong probability, it does not
date earlier than a.d. 1114, when this new form
of consecration took place.

The C'uldees rejected the doctrine of works
of supererogation, hoping for salvation not in
the merit of themselves or others, but only in
the mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

While refusing to pray to dead men, the
Culdees also rejected pray ere for the dead, be-
lieving that when we come before the tribunal
of Christ neither Job, nor Daniel, nor Noah
can intercede for any one, but that every one
must bear his own bm'den.

They were opposed to all traditions of the
church — and in this is to be foimd the summary
of their errors and their guilt according to the
views of Rome. "They observed only those
things," says Bede, " which they found written
in the prophets, evangelists, and apostles, and
diligently fidfiUed the duties of purity and
piety."

In such doctrines as these, and the basis on
which they were founded, the western church
in Britain met with a stumbling-stone in its
progress which must be broken or removed
from its path. But even more irritating than
these subjects merely doctrinal, and therefore
the less dangerous in such a rude age, must
have been the external indications that char-
acterized these Culdeea, and which the simplest
could mark and undei-stand. They were of the
primitive apostolic type, and therefore in start-
ling opposition to the innovating spirit which
had now set in hke a spring-flood. Clerical
celibacy, which was regarded as the perfection
of sanctity, these Culdees would not under-
stand ; and they had their wives and children
either dwelling in the monastery or its imme-
diate neighbourhood. Instead of exacting their
support from the industi-y of othere and making
this a source of indolence, luxury, and wealth,
they lived by the labom- of their hands, and
were more ready to give than to receive. While
the external pomp of the Roman ritual was of
yearly increase, until the palace at last was
eclipsed by the church, and the purple of the
emperor outshone by that of the pope, the Cul-
dees were contented to assemble in humble
chapels, perform the rites of worship without
incense and tapere, and administer baptism
without the consecrated chrism. Even in the
chief badge of clerieil distinction the Culdee
diifered from the Romish monk or priest; for
while his tousure consisted of a shaven brow,
that of the latter was made by shaving the
middle of the head. Thus, not only in doctrine.

but in form of ecclesiastical polity and mode of
public woi-ship, nay, even in external distinc-
tion and costume, the followers of Columba
were so opposite to the pi-edominating church
that the only question with the latter was re-
garding the means with which, and the manner
in which, they should be suppressed or anni-
hilated. In this ca.se it was well for the C'uldees
that crusades and inquisitions were the refine-
ments of a later age. As yet persuasion and
argument were the chief instruments of conver-
sion, and these were brought into full play.

We have given an account in a former chapter
of the conversion of the heathen Northumbrians
to Christianity by the united efforts of Oswald
their king, and Aidan, the missionary from lona.
Theii' Christianity, however, being of the Culdee
foi-m, stood in silent antagonism to that which
Augustine and his monks had established in
the rest of England. Here, then, was the van-
tage-ground for the western church to commence
that warfare which had for its object the estab-
lishment of a universal conformity. Culdeeism,
being the weaker party, could be represented as
being not only a heresy but a national dissent
or schism. But above all, Oswy, the powerful
king of Northumberland, whose conscience was
laden with the crimes of regicide and usurpa-
tion, and who therefore needed the full assur-
ance of absolution, had already manifested strong
leanings towai'ds a church whose penances were
soon to be so persuasive with the Anglo-Saxon
kings. It was easy, therefore, to induce him to
convoke a public meeting at which the claims
of the two rival churches should be contested
by then- respective champions, and the strongest
be estabhshed as the only faith of Northumbria.
It was indeed a simple and summary mode of
deciding the choice of a national faith; but this
religious levity had ah-eady become a charac-
teristic of the Anglo-Saxon people. If a ruler
willed, in spite of the Italian pi'eachers, to re-
main an idolater, his subjects continued to
woi-ship Thor and Odin; but if he became a
Chiistian they submitted to baptism without a
murmur.

The meeting for so important a debate and
decision was held in the convent of Whitby, on
the coast of Yorkshire, a.d. 664. On either side
was a throng of disputants, the one party being
headed by Colman, originally a monk of lona,
and now Bishop of Lindisf arne ; the other by the
ambitious and enterprising Bishop Wilfrid, who,
more than any one, had bestirred himself in
Northumbria in behalf of the cause of Rome.
The king presided over this gi-eat assize, accom-
panied by his principal courtiei-s, while Hilda,
daughter of King Edwin, and prioress of Whitby,
was present with her attendants. But in the

A.D. 650-12S6.]

debate the simple-minded Colman and his Cul-
dees proved no match for the astucious Wilfrid,
■whose great natural talents had been matured
by foreign education and residence at the papal
court. He dexterously shifted the ai-gument
from those essentials which might have been
tested by argument or Scripture to mere un-
important externals, such as the form of the
clerical tonsui'e and the proper date of Easter;
and when Colman appealed to the Bible the
other opposed him with the authority of what
were termed the Apostolical Canons. Having
thus obtained a ground of his own choosing,
WUfrid was both eloquent and pereuasive, for
he could prove that the observances which he
advocated were in universal use, except among
the Picts and Britons, whom he named with
contempt. When Colman quoted Saint John
and Columba as his authorities for the Culdee
mode of keeping Easter Wilfrid, in the course
of argument, dexterously dropped the name of
the apostle and used only that of Columba, as
if the Culdees could claim no higher origin for
their church than an Irish missionary, while he
boldly proclaimed St. Peter and St. Paul to be
the founders of the Church of Rome. " And
now," he triumphantly added, "after having
heard the decrees of the apostolic chair, yea, of
the whole chm-ch, and these confirmed by sacred
missives, if you still persist in rejecting them
you are undoubtedly guilty of sin. For although
your founders were holy men, are they, a hand-
ful occupying a mere nook of a remote island,
to be preferred to the universal church of Christ
extended over the whole world ? And even
though this Columba of youi's was both holy
and endowed with graces, can he be preferred
to the most blessed prince of the apostles, to
whom our Lord said, 'Tliou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it?'"

Tliis part of the argument seemed to startle
King Oswy. He turned to Colman, and anxi-
ously asked him if these words were really ad-
dressed by our Lord to Peter; who confessed
that they were. " And can you adduce," said
Oswy, "any such words addressed to your
Columba!" — and Colman replied th.at he could
not. " You both, then, agree in this discussion,"
rejoined the king, " that these were spoken to
Peter alone, and that to him the keys of heaven
were cummitted?" Both disputants assented;
upon wliich Oswy thus closed the controversy:
"I now tell you, that as Saint Peter is the door-
keeper, I will no longer be opposed to him, but
will obey him in evei-y point, lest, when I come
to heaven's gates, he should be displeased with
me, and refuse to open them." The bystandere
Bhouted their applause at this decision, and the

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

143

fate of the Northumbrian church was sealed:
Colman, with his Scottish brethren and thirty
English Culdees, retreated to lona, while Wilfrid,
raised to the dignity of Bishop of Northumber-
land, found little difficulty in reducing his whole
diocese to conformity. With equal or with
gi-eater facility the people were withdrawn from
Ciddeeism wherever it had been established
throughout England, and by the same cunning
form of management : the controversy, instead
of dealing with doctrines, was Umited to a ques-
tion of fashion and expediency — to a few strokes
of the razor and a new vei'sion of the calendar
— to the proper form of the clerical tonsure and
the right date of Easter holidays.

England being thus won to Rome, the next
conquest was to be that of Scotland. And here,
also, the insidious character of that Italian policy
which had been so successful with England was
strikingly manifested. Adamnan, the ninth in
succession from Columba, who as Abbot of lona
must have been regarded by strangers as head
of the Culdees and primate of Scotland, was, in
spite of his piety, his learning, and position,
allured into the western church. For this con-
version an interesting incident had prepared the
way. A Gaidish ship having been wrecked in
a storm upon lona, the passengers were re-
ceived to the hospitality of the monastery; and
among these was Aa-culf, a bishop of Gaul, who
had visited Jerusalem, travelled through the
whole of Palestine, and sojourned at Damascus,
Constantinople, Alexandria, and other places of
religious pilgi-image. Such a guest was thrice
welcome to the lonely sojourners of that bleak
little island, and especially to Abbot Adamnan,
who eagerly listened to the accounts of his far-
travelled guest about the scenes he had visited,
and digested them into a volume entitled "Con-
cerning Holy Places." This work, of which
Venerable Bede gives a copious abstract, was
also highly commended by the renowned monk
of Jari'ow as very useful to the ignorant, and
to all who had no opportunity of visiting these
sacred localities.' In the coui-se of his public
duties Adamnan had occasion to visit the court
of Northumbria, and thither he carried his
literary production, which he iiresented to King
Aldfrid, by whom it was highly commended,
and by whose order it was transcribed for cir-
culation. The Romish priests were not long in
discovering both his learning and his weakness,
and marking him for their own. He was urged
with arguments similai- to those which had been
used in the controversy of Wliitby ; and while
the discussion was confined to mere ceremonies
and the Easter question, he was overwhelmed

> Beda But. lib. t. c 16.

144

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 650-1286.

with the authority of the church universal as
opposed to the obstinacy of a few monks en-
trenched within an unknown corner of the
island. Overcoiue by their arguments, and per-
haps by the flattery of King Aldfrid, the abbot
yielded, embraced the cause of the Romish
Church, and ret>u-ned with all the zeal of a
fresh convert to lead his brethren into the new
path. But the monks of loua, notwithstanding
this defection of their superior, stood firm; and
Adamnan, finding that he could not persuade
them, left the island, and repau-ed as a missionary
to Ireland, where he was more successful, for he
pereuaded several of the Culdee establishments
in that quarter to shave their heads anew, and
adopt the computation of the western calendar,
by which they were Romanized to the full.
After several years spent in this manner he
returned again to lona; but here his success was
no better than before. This resolute constancy
of the Scottish Culdees, notwithstanding the
example of their father and head, presents an
honourable contrast to the weakness of the
Saxons of Northumbria.

But authority of a more secular and formid-
able character was now to be brought against
the brotherhood of lona, and persecution was
to follow when persuasion had failed. Nec-
tan III., King of Pictland, having joined the
Roman Church, resolved that his subjects should
follow his example, and for this purpose he
applied for aid to Ceolfrid, Abbot of Girwy,
in Northumbria. The kind of assistance he
requested was twofold. The one was pastoral
letters from the abbot, containing such argu-
ments as might avail for the conversion of his
people: the other was for some English architects
to build for him a church of stone, which he
promised to dedicate to Peter, the prince of the
apostles. Both letters and masons were readily
sent, and the former proved so available, that
in a short time, as we are informed by Bede,
the monks of lona, with the other monasteries
subject to them, were, " by the assistance of our
Lord," reduced to canonical uniformity with
Rome and England. But the previous steadfast-
ness of these Culdees would incline us to suspect
that more cogent arguments than those of the
Abbot of Gu-wy must have been used by the
royal disputant; and accordingly, in the year
assigned for this convei-sion (a.d. 716) we are
told in the Ulster Annals that the brethren
were expelled by Nectan from lona, and driven
beyond the Grampian Mountains into the
country of the southern Picts. In this way we
can easily understand the acquiescence of the
island of Columba. The voice of dissent was
silenced when no one was left to raise it.

The overthrow and death of Nectan III.,

about A.D. 725, seemed to produce a favourable
change for the Culdees ; and we are informed
that lona was in peace for sixty years. In
sjiite of the monkish legend of Bede about the
miraculous success of Egbert the monk in con-
verting the whole island — and which appears
to be nothing more than a legendary episode —
we may more rationally account for this peace
by supposing that on the death of their perse-
cutor the brethren of lona returned to their
cells, and that Nectan's violence produced no-
thing more than a temporary expatriation. But
more terrible enemies than the Pictish king
were now to enter upon the scene. These were
the merciless Norsemen, the kings of the sea
and pirates of every coast. In 793 their shielded
gaUej's and raven banner were borne through
the Western Isles, which were swept and deso-
lated by their ravages. In 801 they burned the
monastery of lona. In 805 they returned and
repeated the work of havoc with such severity
that not more than sixty-four of the brother-
hood were left in the island. lona was now a
helj^less frontier exposed to an unsparing enemy,
and the repetition of these visits made further
residence there neither desirable nor safe. Rais-
ing, therefore, the bones of their honoured
founder from the grave in which they could no
longer rest in peace, the monks of the holy
island emigrated to Dunkeld, and in its church,
which had recently been built by Kenneth Mac-
alpin, they deposited the remains of Columba
and established their future home.

In this way was the capital of the Culdees
destroyed. A loneh' and mysterious star amidst
a sky where all was darkness — a Patmos with its
exiled witness amidst the growth of a universal
apostasy — this little island of the Hebrides has
for ages arrested the gaze alike of the theo-
logian and the scholar, until by distance its
history has assumed the character of a myth or
a fable rather than a veritable reality. But
however bright and delusive the fata morgana
may be, this wonderful phantasm has its sub-
stantial impersonation in rock and strand, and
the attestation of its departed greatness in
crumbling walls and tombstones instead of
vague surmise or uncertain tradition. And
above all, its reality has been evinced in the
spirit it implanted upon the national chai-acter
and the etfects it produced on the religious his-
tory of the people. But thus the living lona
became a grave, a monument, and a place of
pOgrimage. Although not destroyed with its re-
vered metropolis, Culdeeism was rudely shaken
and prepared for its final overthrow.

This consummation was now so certain that its
accomplishment was nothing more than a ques-
tion of time. The work itself extended, indeed.

, 650-1286.]

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

145

over a long course of years ; but it was managed
with that artful policy which could well afford
to wait, and which was never wont to mar its
purposes by precipitate haste and rashness. Of
the various agencies by which the extinction of
Culdeeisra was effected we can only afford to
give a very brief summary. One of the fore-
most and most influential of these has been
detailed in a preceding chapter; it was the
amicable disputation to which the leaders of
the Culdees were invited, where they had for
their opponents an energetic sovereign and an
amiable, talented, popular queen. It was diffi-
cult, indeed, to resist the gentle Margaret,
armed as she must have been with the strongest
and subtlest arguments which the Rome of that
day could furnish. Another device was the
establishment of the episcopal over the pres-
byterian form of church polity. Whether the
new Anglo-Saxon dynasty established by Mal-
colm Canmore had taken the alarm at the rapid
growth of the feudal power, and sought to
counteract the aristocracy of warlike nobles by
one of learned priests, we are unable to deter-
mine, but it was pursued ^vith as much zeal as if
royalty itself had had a personal interest in the
measure. It was so steadfastly pi-osecuted at
the outset that four bishoprics wei-e founded by
David I. alone, independently of his numerous
abbacies and priories. By this device Culdee-
isni was met, pressed back, and hemmed in on
every side until its parishes were absorbed by
the surrounding sees, and even the most talented
of the brethren in many cases won over with the
allurements of monastic and episcopal mitres.
And yet, even in spite of these aggressions, the
church of Columba might have retained its hold
of the popular affections and been cherished as
the church of the people, let that of the state
be what it might — a political anomaly which
Scotchmen can well uudei'stand — had not an-
other plan been introduced by which the people
themselves were to be allured from their old
spiritual pastors and guides. This was the
establishment of canons regular in Scotland —
an order of recent origin in the Roman Church,
but which occupied the same place in advancing
its interests that was held at a later day by the
Jesuits. And .against these new rivals the Cul-
dees had little chance of maintaining their
ground. The latter, as we have seen, were
handicraftsmen and farmers as well as presby-
tera; their ritual was simple and unadorned;
and, like the rustics whom they taught, they
led an everyday domestic life with their wives
and children ai"ound them. Such a style was
only fit for a primitive stage of society which
every step in advance must alter or leave be-
hind. But in opposition to this half-laic, half-

ecclesiastical character, the canons regular were
priests and nothing else, whUe their sjjiritual
character was emphatically marked by their celi-
bacy, which kept them apai-t from the world,
while it seemed to exalt them above its weak-
nesses and its cares. Theirs was also a ritual
which the land of genius and the fine ails had
constructed, and the attractions of which the
rude communities of Europe had been every-
where unable to resist. In this way the pro-
scribed Culdees, now a diminished band, with
Christendom itself an-ayed against them, were
fated, during the present period of our naiTative,
to disappear as a community and a chui'ch from
the page of history. Still, indeed, its spirit
remained and its remembrance was kept alive
in a corner of the national heart; but with
what healing influences it may have leavened
the new and successful church, and in what
manner these influences may have been mani-
fested, it would now be in vain to conjecture.

Although a large portion of Scotland had
been Christianized by the missionaries of the
Western Chiu-ch, who were careful to establish
the ecclesiastical poUty of Rome in contradis-
tinction to the Culdeeism of Pictlaud, and who
had therefore their presiding bishops, yet it is
worthy of notice that these prelates do not seem
to have had their separate and specific dioceses.
They merely bore the general title of Episcopi
or Epucopi Scotorum; and thus, though Scot-
land had its bishops, it had no bishopric, so far
as can be learned, until near the close of the
ninth century. The honour of the innovation
is ascribed to King Grig, who founded the
bishopric of St. Andrews, thenceforth to be
regarded as the parent see of Scotland ; and it
was probablj' for this pious deed that the monk-
ish writers afterwards expanded Grig, the Celtic
chief, into Gregory the Great, and made him
the conqueror of England and Ireland. Still,
however, the country was so obscure that its
bishoprics offered few temptations to clerical
ambition, whether from Rome or England. For
two centuries, therefore, the Scottish church
remained unnoticed until its growing wealth
and importance made it worth regarding. It
was then that Turgot, Prior of Scone and con-
fessor of Queen Margaret, was nominated by
Alexander I. to the bishopric of St. Andrews.
But from whom was this primate of Scotland
to receive episcopal consecration? According to
the new canonical rule and usage he could only
be made a bishop by one who held a still higher
office in the church — by an archbishop, a c;ir-
dinal, or the pope. In this case Anselm, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, claimed the right of
investiture, as primate of the whole islanil of
Britain; while Thomas, the Archbishop of York,

146

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

declared that both St. Andrews and the king-
dom of Scotland itself were included within his
diocese. But unfortunately for the claim of the
latter, although elected to the archbishopric of
York, he was not yet consecrated, and therefore
unable to invest another with the mitre. The
two English prelates were kindled into antagon-
ism, and while each regarded the other with
jealous watchfulness, the attention of both was
directed with unwonted interest to every cleri-
cal movement in Scotland. In this state of
things a report reached Anselm that a plan had
been devised by which Turgot was to be con-
secrated by the Bishop of Dm-ham and the
Bishop of Orkney, while Thomas was to attend
and ratify the act by his presence. Indignant
at this stratagem, Anselm interposed his prohi-
bition, declaring that a mere archbishop-elect
could not consecrate a bishop either personally or
by deputy, and he commanded Thomas to come
to Canterbury and be consecrated himself. The
conflict between the two English arch-prelates
was keenly watched by the Scottish clergy, whose
independence was thus at issue; and they de-
clared that neither by right nor by usage could
the Archbishop of York lay claim to consecrate
a bishop to the see of St. Andrews. To divide
such a knot when it could not be untied, the
civil sword was necessary; and the two kings
of England and Scotland interposed to restore
peace and concord between the two archbishops.
From such sovereigns as Alexander the Fierce
and Henry Beauclerk sharp and short work was
to be expected. And yet all they could obtain
was but a temporary adjustment. It was to the
effect that King Henry should command the
Archbishop of York to consecrate Turgot, "sav-
ing the authority of either church." The worth
of such a sa\'ing clause was afterwards to be
tried by Beauclerk's grandson, Henry II., in
his controversy with Thomas h Becket. In the
meantime, as far as Scotland was concerned, the
compromise decided nothing beyond the per-
sonal claim of Turgot, and left the whole ques-
tion open for future strife and discussion. As
for Turgot himself, who after this decision was
consecrated with great pomp at York, Cardinal
Ulric being present at the ceremony, the eleva-
tion little availed him, for in consequence of
misunderstandings with the king he resolved to
travel to Rome to seek counsel of the pope. But
already worn out with age and sorrow, he was
unfit for such a journey, and therefore he went
no farther than his own cell at Durham, where
he died in peace.'

On the retii'ement of Turgot another bishop
would have been nominated for St. Andrews,

1 Sim. Dxmelm ; Eatlmer.

[a.d. 650-1286.

but, apprehensive of a fresh controversy from
the claims of York and Canterbuiy, Alexander I.
kept the see vacant for several years. At last,
when the delay could be no longer continued,
the king wrote in 1120 to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, blaming himself for having allowed
the flock to wander so long without a shepherd,
and requesting that Eadmer, a monk of Canter-
bm-y, should be "set free" and sent to him, for
the purpose of being " enthi-oned with episcopal
dignity" at St. Andrews. This application to
Canterbury instead of York was a decided re-
jection of the claims of supremacy made by the
latter, while the king's demand that Eadmer
should be set free implied that thenceforth the
monk should owe no allegiance even to Canter-
bury itself. Such at least appears to have been
the understanding of Alexander, and in this
way he attempted to provide for the indepen-
dence of the Scottish church and the mainten-
ance of concord between the two kingdoms.
But neither Eadmer nor his metropolitan had
taken these considerations into account ; and
this was shown as soon as the foi-mer had ar-
rived in Scotland. How or by whom was he
to be consecrated ? This was the anxious ques-
tion of the king in his first interview with
Eadmer, while he expressed his repugnance at
any application being made for the purpose to
York. Eadmer cordially assented : he was as
little disposed to acknowledge the superiority of
that see as the king himself ; but he added that
he meant to apply to Canterbury, as its primate
by ancient right held the episcopal supremacy
over the whole island of Britain. At this pro-
posal Alexander started and recoiled. Had the
Scottish church been fi-eed from York only to
be given up to Canterbury ? The particulars of
the quarrel between the king and the bishop-
elect have been elsewhere noticed : it is enough
for the present to state, that while Eadmer con-
sidered himself to be still the spiritual subject
of Canterbury, whether as English monk or
Scottish prelate, the king conceived that by
being set free every such tie of allegiance was
broken.— that the priest was sent to him ab-
solved fi-om every resti-iction. He was willing^
indeed, that the Scottish church, like other
national churches, should render homage to
Rome as the unquestioned fountain-head of
spiritual authority ; but to subject it either to
York or Canterbury was to sacrifice its na-
tional independence, and make it a mere suf-
fragan diocese of England. At last, finding
that he could neither pei-suade nor awe the
strong-headed sovereign, Eadmer was induced
to abandon the straggle by resigning his bish-
opric and retiring to Canterbury. Even here,
however, the controversy could not well termi-

L.D. 650-1286.]

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

147

nate. On his return home he was rebuked by
his English superiors and advisere for having
so hastily abandoned the contest. It was not
thus that they were willing to lose their hold
of Scotland, and the desponding priest was
urged to make such concessions as might war-
rant his reposition. On resigning the bishopric
he had engaged not to reclaim it during the life
of Alexander, unless by the advice of the pope,
the convent of Canterbury, and the King of Eng-
land ; but, under the influence of his new light
he wrote a humble supplication to the Scottish
king, in which he ofl'ered to be more submissive
for the time to come. "Lest you should think,"
he said, " that I am in any way desirous to de-
tract from the liberty and dignity of the King
of Scots, I wish you to be satisfied on this point.
For, with respect to the King of England, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and the sacerdotal
benediction, I have now learned, that in what
you demanded, and I was unwilling to grant,
my opinions were erroneous. Should you there-
fore still persist in your sentiments you will no
longer find me contrary, nor these differences
withholding me from the service of God and
your afi'eotion. Only permit me to enjoy the
other privileges belonging to the see of St. An-
drews, and I shall act according to your will."'
This surrender was sufficiently humble and
complete ; but the time had gone by when it
could be effectual, and Alexander was unwilling
to tamper with the victory he had already won,
or to provoke a fresh contest which was no longer
necessary. Perhaps, too, the submissiveness of
this application was marred instead of mended
by an imperious letter from the Archbishop of
Canterbury, demanding the recaU of Eadmer as
a right, because he had been canonically elected,
and declaring that as long as the latter lived
no other could be bishop of St. Andrews without
the crime of spiritual adultery. But Alexander
was deaf to either appeal ; and here the contro-
veray as far as Eadmer, its victim and historian,
was concerned, was brought to a close. It is
worthy of notice as the tiret assumption of
superiority by England over Scotland, and the
firet display of that Scottish independence
which subsequent events were to call into action.
As such it was a needful preparation for the
weaker country that w;is so soon to be sum-
moned into the field, and there to decide the
question, not by arguments but the sword.

As Alexander had resolved that Eadmer
should not return to Scotland, his next choice
for the vacant bishopric fell upon Robert, Prior
of Scone, who, like his two predecessors, was a
native of England. In each choice there was

not only a manifest recognition of the superior
learning and fitness of the English clergy, but
the absence of that national jealousy and sus-
picion of which as yet both countries seem to
have been unconscious. But the new election
was not to be undisturbed; and Thuretan, Arch-
bishop of York, afterwards renowned as one of
the English heroes in the Battle of the Standard,
renewed the claims of ecclesiastical homage that
had been made by his predecessors. But now
there was less chance than before that they
would meet with dutiful attention, and rather
than submit, the consecration of Robert was
delayed for five yeai-s. At last Thurstan was
fain to succumb, and the Bishop of St. Andrews
was consecrated by the English prelate without
doing homage to the see of York. "Be it
known to aU both now and hereafter" — thus
Archbishop Thurstan's instrument attested —
"that I have absolutely consecrated without
profession or pi-omise of obedience, Robert,
Bishop of St. Andrews, for the love of God and
King David, saving the claim of the see of York
and the right of the see of St. Andrews."- But
this last exception, if anything more than an
unmeaning form, was an absolute confession of
defeat, and the independence of the Scottish
church upon that of England might now be
considered as confirmed.

The reign of David I. is memorable in the
history of the Scottish church for the liberality
with which he endowed it. His munificence,
which was extravagantly applauded in his own
day, was as keenly reprobated in later ages; and
it happened, singulai-ly enough, that both the
censure and the praise weie bestowed according
to the strictest justice. In conferring such ex-
tensive dotations of land upon the church he
merely gave away unproductive acres which
none had cared to occupy, and he gave them to
the only men of the period who had industry
and skill enough to turn them to account. He
invited communities of monks both from Eng-
land and France into Scotland, and provided
stately homes for their residence; but ;is these
ecclesiastics were the only scholai-s of the age it
was in this way alone that he could provide for
the instruction of a barbarous and illiterate
people. In thus founding monasteries he was
esfciblishing schools and colleges. Moreover,
during the earlier part of his reign the warfare
commenced under his father Malcolm Canmore
with England was rising into a confirmed na-
tional feutl, and he may have thought that by
consecrating such ample territories to the
church, especially uix)n the Border, he ]ilaced
them under the surest of protections, and giia-

' niiartoD'a Aitglia Saeret, t U. p. 237.

148

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 650-1286.

ranteed them from the woi'st calamities of war.
Nor -were his hopes in the fii'st instance disap-
pointed. The churchmen proved themselves
skilful, industrious agriculturists and tolerant
landlords, so that their lauds were the best
cultivated, and their peasantry the most com-
fortable in Scotland. lu every district theii-
scholai-ship was of the utmost importance, where,
except themselves, there were none who could
read and wi-ite. In the high church dignitaries
also, the bishops and abbots, whose number
David so greatly augmented, he created a poli-
tical power which sei-ved as a counterpoise and
a check to the overgrown feudal power of the
nobility. Thus his wisdom w;ts the highest
wisdom of the age, and his expedients were the
best which circumstances suggested. But un-
fortunately, while a reaction, whether suuu or
late, was inevitable, it was certain to come with
those peculiar aggravations which attend upon
a church that has become too wealthy and too
powerful. The account of this reaction belongs
to a later period of our history.

With the exception of a single attempt of the
Archbishop of York to impose his supremacy
upon Scotland, its chm-ch remained untroubled
from that quarter during the reign of Mal-
colm IV. The occasion, indeed, seemed espe-
cially opportime, as the ai'chbishop, ha\'ing been
invested with legatine authority by Pope Alex-
ander III., was hopeful that he might be able
to extend it over the whole Scottish clergy; but
the claim was so decisively rejected that he
quietly allowed it to go to sleep. But in the
I'eign of WiUiam it was resumed, and under
circumstances that promised fuU compliance.
The Scottish king had been taken prisoner, and
to obtain his liberation had been compelled to
become the liegeman of Henry II. The king-
dom being thus deprived of its independence
through the vass;dage of the sovereign, a similar
demand was made upon the liberties of its
chui'ch, and to this David, his brother, and the
Scottish barons had been obliged to yield.
Nothing was now wanting but the assent of the
Scottish clergy, and a deputation of their highest
dignitaries was sent to the place of conference to
ratify their part of the treaty. But while they
ostensibly assented, they secured their independ-
ence by agi-eeing that the English church shoidd
hold the same authority over that of Scotland
" which of right it ought to have." By these
vague terms, by this most flexible of condi-
tions, all and nothing was promised, and the
question was left open as before to a contro-
versy of histoi-y and tradition. It seems pass-
ing strange that the Anglican church should
have been satisfied with such specious generali-
ties, more especially as these had been her

own favourite weapons during the whole coui-se
of this clerical war. But none are so easily
deceived as deceivei's themselves, especially
when their own form of craft is used against
them.

It was not long before the worth of these
concessions was brought to the test. A meeting
was convoked at Norham for the piu'pose of
receiving the recognition of the Scottish clergy
to the archbishop's supremacy ; but the former,
unprepared for open refusal and unwilling to
yield, craved a postponement. This was granted.
In the following year (1176) Hugo, Cai-dinal of
St. Angelo, being then in England, sent his
apparitors to Scotland to summon its clergy be-
fore him at Northampton, and accordingly a
gi-eat number repaired thither at the time ap-
pointed. It was a trying occasion, for here the
subject of submission was resumed not only by
the cardinal, who presided over the meeting, but
by Henry II. himself, who was present. The
demand thus made upon English ground and
by such authority must have staggered the
Scottish ecclesiastics ; but they soon rallied suf-
ficiently to show what thej' meant by the late
treaty. In accordance with its words the king
required that they should yield that obedience
to the English chui'ch which they ought to
yield, and had been wont to yield in the days
of his predecessors ; — but to this the northern
bishops replied that they never had yielded, and
ought not to yield, subjection to the Church of
England. The Archbishop of York asserted
the contrary, and endeavoured by fact and ar-
gument to maintain his claim ; but this kindled,
as on previous occasions, the rivalry of the Can-
terbury primate, who declared that Scotland
w-as comprised within his own see. This re-
vival of quaiTel between the two English hier-
archs was fortunate for the Scots, who had only
to stand aside; and Henry, who had already
experienced enough of Canterbury under Becket,
was glad to dismiss the Scottish prelates without
repeating his demands, or exacting any token of
submission.

Thus far goes the account of an English histo-
rian who probably was present at the meeting.'
But during the course of these incidents there
was an important episode upon which omx Scot-
tish writers have dwelt with peculiai- satisfac-
tion, as it shows the honourable relation in
which their ancient chui'ch stood to that of
England. According to this account, while the
Scottish bishops were daunted by the demand
of submission and remained silent, not knowing
what to answer, GUbert Murray, a young Scot-
tish clerk, started forward as speaker on the

' Hoveden.

A.D. 650-1286.]

HISTORY OF EELIGIOX.

149

occasiou and arrested the attention of the audi-
tory by the following bold harangue : —

" It is true, English nation, thou mightest
have been noble, and more noble than some
other nations, if thou hadst not craftily turned
the power of thy nobility and the strength of thy
fearful might into the presumption of tyranny,
and thy knowledge of liberal science into the
shifting glosses of sophistry. But thou disposest
not thy ]jurposes as if thou wert led with reason;
and being puffed up with thy strong armies and
trusting in thy great wealth, thou attemptest in
thy wretched ambition and lust of domineering
to bring under thy subjection thy neighbour
provinces and nations, more noble I will not
say in multitude or power, but in lineage and
antiquity — unto whom, if thou wilt consider
ancient records, thou shouldest rather have
been hiunbly obedient ; or at least laying aside
thy rancour, have reigned together in perpetual
love. And now, with all wickedness of pride
that thou showest without any reason or law,
but in thy ambitious power, thou seekest to
oppress thy mother, the Church of Scotland,
which from the beginning hath been catholic
and free, and which brought thee, when thou
■wast straying in the wilderness of heathenism,
into the safeguard of the true faith and way
unto life — even unto Jesus Clu-ist, the author
of eternal rest. She did wash thy kings, and
princes, and people in the laver of holy baptism;
she taught thee the commandments of God and
instructed thee in moral duties ; she did accept
many of thy nobles and othei-s of meaner rank
when they were desirous to learn to read, and
gladly gave them daily entertainment without
price, books also to read, and instruction freely;
she did also appoint, ordain, and consecrate thy
bishops and priests ; by the space of thirty years
and above she maintained the primacy and pon-
tifical dignity within thee on the north side of
Thames, as Beda witnesseth.

"And now, I pray, what recompense render-
est thou imto her that hath bestowed so many
benefits on thee? Is it bondage? or such as
Judrea rendered unto Christ — evil for good?
It seemeth no other thing. Thou unkind vine,
how art thou turned into bitterness ! We looked
for grapes, and thou bringest forth wild grapes;
for judgment, and behold iniquity and crying.
If thou couldest do as thou wouldest, thou
wouldest draw thy mother, the Church of Scot-
land, whom thou shouldst honour with all
reverence, into the basest and most wretched
bondage. Fie for shame ! What is more base,
when thou wilt do no good, to continue in doing
wrong? Even the serpents will not do harm
to their own, albeit they e;ist forth to the hurt
of othere. The vice of ingratitude hath not so

much moderation ; an ungi-ateful man doth
rack and massacre himself, and he despiseth
and minceth the benefits for which he should
be thankful, but multiplieth and enlargeth in-
juries. It was a true sa3Tng of Seneca, I see,
' The more some do owe, they hate the more; a
small debt maketh a grievous enemy.' What
sayest thou, David ? It is true ; ' they rendered
me evil for good, and hatred for my love.' It
is a wretched thing (saith Gregory) to serve a
lord who cannot be apjiieased with whatsoever
obeysance.

"Therefore thou. Church of England, doest
as becomes thee not. Thou thinkest to caiTy
what thou cravest, and to take what is not
gi'anted. Seek what is just. If thou wilt have
pleasure in what thou seekest. And to the
end I do not weary others with my words,
albeit I have no charge to speak for the libei-ty
of the Church of Scotland, and albeit all the
clergy of Scotland would think otherwise, yet
I dissent from subjecting her, and I do appeal
to the apostolical lord unto whom immediately
she is subject ; and if it were needful for me to
die in the cause, here I am ready to lay down
my neck uuto the sword. Nor do I think it
expedient to advise any more with my lords the
prelates, nor If they wUl do otherwise do I con-
sent unto them; for it is more honest to deny
quickly what is demanded imjustly than to
drive off time by delays, seeing he is the less
deceived who is refused betimes."

The effect of this eloquent and unexpected
speech was striking ; some of the English, both
nobles and prelates, commended it highly for
its bold patriotic spirit, while othere regarded
it as an effervescence of the ardent Scottish
temperament, and quoted what perhaps at that
time was a proverb, " In naso Scoti piper."'
But the person most affected was Roger, Arch-
bishop of York, whose authority and claims it
so violently shook. He uttered a groan, but
speeddy recollecting himself, he assumed a
merry countenance, and laying his hand upon
the young man's head, said, " Ex tua pharetra
non exiit Ula sagitta ;"'■' insinuating by this that
Gilbert had not spoken of himself, but accord-
ing to the prompting of others. From the .same
historical authority we learn that the speech
was attended with important consequences.
This appeal to the protection of the pope, and
acknowledgment in behalf of Scotland of his
sole and supreme authority, was so gratifying
to the pontiff that he abandoned the interests
of the Ai'chbishop of York by sending a bull
soon after to King William, granting that

1 There i3 pepper in the noso of a Scot.

■ That arrow did not come from your own quiver.

150

HISTORY OF SCOTLAJSTD.

neither in ecclesiastical nor civil alFaii-s the
Scottish nation should answer to any foreign
judge whatsoever, but only to the pope, or his
legate specially constituted.'

This successful conclusion of a long struggle
for independence was gratifying both to the
Scottish king and the national chiu'ch, and the
universal approbation was testified in the rapid
rise of the canon Gilbert, who soon after was
made Bishop of Caithness, and subsequently
chancellor of the kingdom. A few years, how-
ever, sufficed to make it doubtful whether they
had acted wisely in escajjing from the dominion
of England by taking shelter under that of
Rome. An event followed which showed that
the supreme pontiff might prove a more danger-
ous taskmaster than any English ai'chbishop.
We allude to the affair of John Scot in his elec-
tion to the bishopric of St. Andrews; and
although an outline of this controversy has
already been given in the civil department of
the narrative, we I'evert to it at greater length
on account of its importance in the religious
history of Scotland.

The see of St. Andrews having become vacant
in 1178 by the death of its bishop, Richard, the
chapter assembled and elected John Scot as his
successor. This man, if we may believe the old
Scottish historian^ whose account we chiefly
follow, was one of those characters whom the
Scottish chm-ch at this time especially needed;
for, independently of his piety and moral worth,
he had studied first at Oxford and afterwards
at Paris, and was learned in the liberal arts,
in science as it then existed, and in theology
beyond the general standard of the age. After
returning from the foreign schools he visited
Scotland, and on arriving at St. Andrews was
received, not as a stranger, but as a friend and
brother. Here he settled and became arch-
deacon of the diocese, until, on the vacancy
occuiTing, lie was elected by his br-ethren to be
their bishop. But in this hasty election several
eiTors had been committed. Notwithstanding
his name, and probably his ancestry, the prelate-
elect was an Englishman, being a native of the
county of Chester; and thus the recent contro-
versy excited by the national leanings of Turgot
and Eadmer might be revived in all its bitter-
ness. But woree than even this was the fact
that in electing him they had usurped an im-

1 This story, which is given dilferently by Boece, we have
taken from Petrie's History qf the Catholic Church (fol.
1602. p. 378). this accurate and diligent antiquary having
transcribed the speech from an old register of Dunkeld no
longer extant An entirely different version of the speech
wUl be found in Spottiswood's History of the Church of
Scotland (fol. 1667, p. 38). In Fordun Oib. vUL c. 26) the
speech is nearly the same as that in the Dunkeld register.

2 Fordun.

[a.d. 650-1286.

portant function of the royal prerogative.
Hitherto the practice both in Scotland and
England had been for the sovereign to nomi-
nate and present, and the chapter to accept and
confirm the choice by their election. In this
way even the Archbishops of Canterbury, and
Becket, the greatest of them all, had owed their
appointment in the firet instance to William
the Conqueror and his successore. It happened
unfortunately also for the chapter that the king
had ah-eady destined the bishopric for Hugh, his
chaplain. On hearing, therefore, of the election,
William indignantly exclaimed, "By the arm
of St. James, while I live John Scot shall never
be Bishop of St. Andrews !" This favourite oath
of the king, which was final and conclusive, was
followed by vigorous action ; he seized the reve-
nues of the diocese; commanded the chapter to
rescind John's appointment, and elect and con-
secrate Hugh in his stead; and when Scot,
after a hopeless resistance, appealed to the
authority of Rome, William drove him from
Scotland as a traitor, and extended the punish-
ment to aU his relations, friends, and sup-
portere, who by the same summary process were
banished from the kingdom.

On this expulsion John Scot repaired to
Rome, as Becket had done a few years earlier,
to plead his cause in person, and was favourably
received by Pope Alexander III., who annulled
the election of Hugh as illegal. Nothing, in-
deed, could be more welcome to the Roman con-
clave than the appeal of the displaced and exiled
bishop. To have the sole right of appointing
to all the high offices of the church throughout
Christendom was now the great aim of Rome,
as it would not only be a source of unlimited
power and influence but of boundless wealth;
and that kings might be reduced to acquiescence
the experiment, which a short time afterwards
was so successful with John of England, was in
the firet case to be attempted with the King of
Scots. He was to be taught that none had a
right to bestow church livings but the earthly
father of the church and those who acted under
his authority; and if William yielded, the proud
Norman potentates of England would more
readily follow the example. Acting, therefore,
as supreme and divinely - constituted judge,
Alexander III. took the case in hand, and after
annoimcing Hugh's deposition he sent Alexius, a
sub-dean of Rome, into Scotland as his delegate,
with fuU power to repossess the injured and
punish the guilty. A favoui-able verdict for John
Scot was the consequence, and in 11 SO he was
consecrated to the bisho])ric. But such a verdict
was as yet but a dead letter in Scotland ; and
while Hugh continued to enjoy the revenues and
exercise the functions of a rightlj'-appointed and

A.D. 650-1286.]

consecrated bishop, Scot, dreading the indigna-
tion of the king, found himself once more obliged
to quit the kingdom and repair to Rome. The
pope then wrote gentle letters to WiUiam, de-
manding the recall and reposition of Scot ; but
to these the king closed his eai-s "like the deaf
adder, and would not listen to the voice of the
charmer." At this exhibition of contumacy the
pope assumed a harsher tone, and announced his
purpose to lay Scotland itself under an interdict;
but Scot threw himself at the feet of the pon-
tiff and implored him to forego his purjxise.
" Holy father," he cried, " I would rather yield
to the decree and resign my episcopal office into
your hands than that mass for the deliverance
of the souls in pui-gatory should be omitted for
a single day on my account." But such a tenni-
nation of the strife would ill have suited the
papal interests, and the relenting prelate was
•enjoined upon his clerical obedience to stand
firm in his resistance.

All these movements had merely been pre-
lusive, compared with the conflict which now
commenced in earnest. To silence Bishop Hugh,
when he was nnable to eject him, Alexius laid
the diocese of St. Andrews under an interdict ;
but the public rites of religion were still con-
tinued as if no sentence had been passed. The
Scottish clergj' were commanded by the pontifi"
to install, within eight days after receiving the
mandate, their rightful bishop, John Scot, and
yield him dutiful obedience, and to excom-
municate Hugh, the pretended bishop of St.
Andrews; but the obdurate priests paid no heed
to the order. The king's chief ofiicers, Richard
de Moreville, Constable of Scotland, Richard
de Prebenda, the royal secretaiT, and several of
William's counsellors, were excommunicated, as
" wicked ones" who stiiTed up their master to
evil ; but their master remained as unmoUified
as ever. The same fearless courage which had
animated his desperate charge upon the English
chivalry at Alnwick, but guided by better pru-
dence and a nobler motive, can-ied him onward
to confront the ghostly terrors of the conclave,
and brave in behalf of the rights of his people
those terroi-s before which kings and emperors
were learning to quail. Finding him still un-
moved, the aveuging sword of Rome, which ha<l
struck down his defences in front and on either
aide, was now raised over his own head; and he
was threatened with the terrible doom of ex-
communication if, aft-er twenty days of grace,
he refused to install John Scot in the bishopric.
But even at this threat the utmost he would
offer was to make Scot his chancellor, and ap-
point him to any other bishopric that ha|i])ened
to fall vaamt. Henry of England, also, his late
conqueror and master — ashamed, perhaps, of his

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

151

own conduct in a similar warfare in which he
had been scourged into submission — offered to
mediate, and endeavoured to obtain from Wil-
liam conditions more ample and satisfactory;
but the Scottish king stood firm to his purpose,
and refused any further concession.

Astonished and provoked by a resistance so
unwonted, but stiU unwilling to strike a crowned
offender, the next expedient of Rome was to
%Tsit the chief clerical delinquents, and by the
chastisement of her own children give a warning
to kings and princes. The clergy of the diocese of
St. Andrews were peremptorily requii-ed to obey
Scot as their bishop under pain of suspension ;
and, as if to embitter the command, it was de-
livered through the Archbishop of York and the
Bishop of Durham, who no doubt exulted in the
humiliation of their old antagonists, especially
as they were authorized to carry the sentence
into execution. Under dread of the penalty
several of the St. Andrews clergy yielded ; but
for this opposition to the royal command they
were banished by the king from Scotland. The
decisive step of inflicting the last punishment
was now inev^itable, and to this the Archbishop
of York, whom the pope had invested with
legatine authority for the pvu^ose, addressed
himself with hearty alacrity. He excommuni-
cated William, and laid the kingdom under an
interdict. By this proceeding the king was pro-
claimed to have no longer right to reign, or even
to enjoy the privileges of :m ordinary Christian;
his society as an accureed man was to be abjured
even by the meanest of his subjects ; and who-
soever raised again.st him the assassin's weapon,
instead of having committed a crime, would be
held to have rendered to God and the church
such good services as would cancel all his past
sins, and ensure his entrance into paiadise. And
terribly would the interdict fall upon the king-
dom ; for the churches would be closed, the
images of the saints laid prostrate upon the
pavement, the public rites of religion suspended,
the dead left unhouseled and unburied in theii-
homes, or upon the highway, and all the social
confidence and kindly intercourse of society sus-
pended as by a deadly stroke. The direful con-
sequences involved in such a doom, as well as
the danger of provoking reaction, had as j-et
made Rome very careful in using it, so that it
had never been brouglit forward except at the
last extremity, and when all other means had
failed. Hence, especially in the pi-esent instance,
had proceedetl that dilatoriness, and those suc-
cessive monitory punishments by wliich Rome
had endeavoured to succeed before trying the
final resource with such a sovereign as William
the Lion, and a people so obdurate as the Scots.
And how was the death-sentence endured ! " By

152

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 650-1286.

reason of the rumour and dread of the inter-
dict," says the old cliionicler,' writing in the
spirit of a churchman, " the king was troubled,
and all Scotland with him." But, in looking at
the narrative, we tind no signs of this universal
tribulation ; on the contrary, both king and
people, both church and government, appear to
have held onward in their ti'anquU course. And
ominous, indeed, it would have been for the
papacy, if at this early stage it had been shown
by the hardihood of Scotland that its heaviest
penalty might be safely defied, that its choicest
thunderbolt was only hrutum fulmen. It was a
singular combination of fortunate circumstances
that freed it from such a hazard. At the critical
moment of execution Pope Alexander III. died;
his delegate, the Archbishop of York, also died;
and as then- sentence could be little more than
a dead letter, until it was renewed by the suc-
ceeding pontiff, both the Scottish church and its
enemies had to wait for further ordere. But Lu-
cius III., who succeedetl to the chair of St. Peter,
after receiving a gracious embassy from William,
revoked both the excommunication and the in-
terdict. In his bull on this occasion he even
became the apologist of these rebellious out-
standere ; for he declared, that to reverence ex-
cellent kings is an apostoUcal precept, and that
the King of Scots was inexorably opposed to
the election and consecration of Bishop John!
So notable a concession on the part of infallibi-
lity deserved some requital, and William ac-
cordingly recalled John Scot from banishment,
treated him at his return with high distinction,
and humbly received the papal absolution at his
hands. We are told that he would even have
replaced liim in St. Andrews, but for the oath
he had sworn to the contrary, in which he had
shown himself as wicked as Herod and as rash
as Jephtha.- But the good bishop was not to
lose his re wai'd amidst the happy reconciliation ;
and at this season of opportune deaths the de-
cease of the Bishop of Dunkeld, which occurred
at the time of Scot's recall, gave William a
choice opportimity of testifying his good-wiU to
the exile, who was forthwith inducted into the
vacancy. And inasmuch as Punkeld was a poor
bishopric compared with the other, Scot was
compensated for this difference, as well as for
the expenses of his banishment, by being allowed
to retain the revenues of his old archdeaconry
of St. Andrews along with his new charge. As
for Hugh, the intnisive bishop of St. Andrews,
he too was in good time received into the grace
of the church ; for, after he had held office ten
years and ten months, he repaired to the Eternal
City and was absolved by the pojje, but died

after starting on liis return within six miles of
Eome.^

Of the history of the Scottish church during
the reign of Alexander II. few particulars have
been recorded that would interest the present
generation. His adherence to the party of the
English barons against John, and the aid he
afforded them, brought him into hostile collision
with the Roman conclave after the tyrant of
England had placed his kingdom under the pro-
tection of the pope. The consequence was that
Cardinal Gualo, the pope's legate in England,
laid Scotland under an interdict — a sentence,
however, which was so little regarded that it
was not published in the country until twelve
montlis afterwards. This indifference was a
notable contrast to the effects produced by the
same penalty upon England during the reign of
John. On the return of peace the removal of
the interdict was one of the conditions of the
treaty, and it was removed accordingly by the
Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Salis-
bury at the command of Gualo. But the car-
dinal, who was an avaricious man and had made
a plentiful harvest in England, was incensed at
his deputies for having let off the Scottish church-
men so easily, instead of exacting from them a
heavy ransom which would have flowed into
his own coffei-s. He therefore declared that the
general absolution did not comprehend the
clergy, whom he summoned to appear before
him at Alnwick. Thither accordingly went the
high church dignitaries, bishops, abbots, and
prioi-s, and were compelled by his threats to
compound for individual absolution by the pay-
ment of lai'ge fuies. With the common church-
men of Scotland he adopted a more summary
and oppressive method, although it was osten-
sibly for their accommodation: this was to send
a commission of two ecclesiastics for the purpose
of absolving them Ln their own districts instead
of requiring them to travel to England for the
purpose. But by this device Gualo inclosed the
whole of Scotland within his net, for the com-
mission commencing their inquisition at Ber-
wick, extended it over the kingdom, so that no
priest, however humble, could escape. Theii'
practice was to assemble the priests and canons
of the district at each principal town, and re-
quire them to confess tiiily and upon oath, and
answer every question ; and when their confes-
sions were taken they were compelled by threats
of deprivation not only to pay large sums for
absolution, but to crave it barefooted and in
the most abject terms at the church-door. This
double tyranny was so iutoleralile that the Scot-
tish clergy sent a deputation of three bishops to

* Hoveden ; Benedictus Abbas ; Scotichf'

A.D. 650-1286.]

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

153

plead their cause at Rome, and complain of the
legate's extortions, upon which Gualo was fined
in a round sum. Thus "he escaped," says Spot-
tiswood, by dividing the spoil (wliich he had
made in those parts) betwixt his master and
himself." These Scottish bishops, on humbly
confessing their offence, were absolved by the
pope. On this occasion one of the cardinals
present observed with a sneer, " It is the sign
of a truly pious disposition to confess a fault
where no fault has been committed." In return
for this submission the pontiff, Honorius III.,
confirmed anew those liberties of the Scottish
church which had already been conceded by four
of his predecessors. Among other causes an-
nounced for this concession one was the respect
and obedience which Alexander had manifested
to the papal see ! It would be difficult for any
eye short of infallibility to discover any sucli
token on the part of the king throughout the
whole proceeding.'

The increase of monachism in Scotland was
still going onwai'd, to the gi'eat indignation of
the secular clergy, who found their consequence
diminished by the superior pretensions to piety
and moral strictness with which these monks
ingratiated themselves into the popular favour.
It is possible that the papal court encouraged
the establishment of these monastic ordei-s in
Scotland, where they were so well fitted to ad-
vance its interests among a people proud of theii-
independence and jealous of every foreign in-
terference. The Cistertians and Canons Regular,
costly though they were, seem now to have been
thought too little for the country ; and at this
time there was a fresh immigration from France,
composed of new communities — Dominicans or
black friai-s, Franciscans, Jacobins, and monks
of Vallombrosa — brought over by the Bishop of
St. Andrews, and established in the country by
the liberaUty of the king, who founded for them
no fewer than eight monasteries in the prin-
cipal towns of Scotland. They came professing
poverty and humility, and in this way they
speedily became rich. Of the readiness of the
Scottish nobles to favour these new-comers and

' Fixdera, L 227-28, 374 ; Scotichron.
VOL. I.

enrich the church a striking example was
afforded in the case of Gilbert, Earl of Strathern,
who, having divided his inheritance into three
parts, gave one to the see of Dunblane, and
another to the Abbey of Inchaffray, while he
reserved only the thii'd portion for himself and
his descendants.-

The rest of the history of the Scottish Kirk
during this period, filled though it be with inci-
dents, must be dismissed with a few general
notices. The growing importance of the office
of a Scottish bishop, and especially a Bishop of
St. Andrews, was accompanied with the usual
amoimt of clerical ambition and intrigue; and
as in these quanels Rome naturally became the
umpire, its influence over the country was aug-
mented by every contested election. The in-
creasing wealth of Scotland under the reign of
Alexander III. was also an additional incentive
to the popes ; and their applications for money,
under the pretext of establishing a new Crusade
for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre, were
both frequent and vexatious. But these de-
mands were in most cases met either by pro-
crastination aud excuse or by downright re-
fusal. That love of independence inherent in
the Scottish Church, by which it had baffled
the claims of the Aichbishops of Yoik, was now
arrayed against the pontitts themselves; and
this especially when the latter attempted, either
directly or indirectly, to make Scotland subser-
vient to England. The admission, therefore,
of even a papal legate into the kingdom was
opposed, and with success, as an intrusion upon
the rights and liberties of the Scottish Church,
and an attempt to subject it to that of the
wealthier and more powerful kingdom. In
1280 a letter of the Bishop of Moray to the
meeting convened at Perth shows us of what
office-bearers a Scottish ecclesiastical council
was at this time composed, being addressed to
" the bishops, abbots, priors, deans, archdeacons,
and other prelates of the church." These were
reckoned sufficient for the purposes of govern-
ment and legislation without being presided
over by a representative of the pope.

* Scotiehroii. ; Spottiswood, p. 43.

154

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-1286.

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORY OF SOCIETY (1097-1286).

Scantiness of our information on the early condition of Scotland — Aids derived on the subject from English

historians — Saxon population of Scotland — Arrival of Norman visitors and exiles — Their reception and
influence — Establishment of the feudal system in Scotland — Devotedness of the Scots to feudalism — Causes
of this devotedness — Effects of the half-Celtic, half- Teutonic descent of the Scots upon the national char-
acter— Arrival of the Flemings into Scotland — Effects produced by their arrival — Change in the government
from the Saxon predominance — Chief oflicers under the Scoto-Saxon kings — Administration of justice —
Laws and legislation of Scotland at this period — Amount of slavery in the kingdom — The Mercheta jMittierum
— Commercial condition of Scotland at this period — Progress of merchandise under the Scoto-Saxon kings
— Its prosperity in the reign of Alexander III. — Commercial regulations during his reign — Style of royal life
— Warlike sports of the nobles — Hunting — Masquerades — State of clerical society in Scotland — Public and
domestic architecture — General state of Scottish living — Scottish schools of the period — Eminent Scotch-
men— Michael Soot — Thomas Rymer.

Although the events of Scottish history from
its conimencemeut to the present period of the
narrative are so obscure and unimportant, and
requii-e to be so briefly related, this defect does
not arise either from poverty of incident or
infrequency of change. Its cause is rather to
be traced to the deficiency of our early annals,
and the ma.sses of vague and contradictory con-
jectures with which their place has been sup-
plied. The fact that three different peoples
had already predominated in Scotland, and that
three different forms of speech liad successively
prevailed as the national language, is a suffi-
cient proof that incidents sufficiently numerous
and stirring and revolutions abundantly im-
portant had filled up the interval. The early
Britons, Caledonians, or Picts had been sup-
planted by the Scoto-Irish, who were in turn
superseded by the Saxons ; and these last were
now to become the representatives of the Scot-
tish as they had long been of the English
people. But where was the Homer to immortal-
ize their deeds, or the Herodotus to chronicle
these successive changes ? And even had such an
Iliad or history existed, would the destructive
wrath of the conqueror have allowed it to
descend to posterity?

It was fortunate for Scotland that when the
enduring portion of her nation;d existence was
to commence by the introduction of a Saxon
population, England abounded in historians,
and that part of their office was to note the
incidents by which the two countries had come
into such close collision. It was also equally
fortunate when this change commenced by
which the Scottish population was to be trans-
formed, and its history directed into its final
current, tliat the change was impersonated in a
man too distinguished to be overlooked, and
that Malcolm Canmore, himself half-Celt and

half-Saxon, haK-Scottish and half-English, was
the living type as well as the chief agent of the
transformation. His reign was therefore the
favourable starting-point for the chroniclere of
England, and it is from them that we learn the
successive steps by which Scotland was trans-
formed from a Celtic into a Saxon kingdom.
Under this guidance we have ali-eady recorded
in our narrative the principal periods and modes
in which the change of population was effected ;
and we have seen how original occupation, war-
like aggressions, conquests, exile, and emigi-a-
tion maintained a steady influx from the south-
ern into the northern part of the island, as weU
as the conflict that commenced between the old
and the new elements before the latter could
acquire a permanent lodgment. The persever-
ance of the Teutonic race, so conspicuous in
their character from the beginning, was too
overwhelming for the fierce but irregular resist-
ance of the people whom it displaced; so that
even at the accession of Edgar the history of
Scotland commences as that essentially of a
Saxon kingdom.

While England was thus supplying a new
population as well as a new character and des-
tiny for Scotland, the change was not to be
eft'eoted by the Anglo-Saxon race alone. With
them came also Anglo - Normans, their cou-
queroi-s and masters, in quest of new settle-
ments; and in such a competition it would
have been singular if these Normans had not
maintained their wonted pre-eminence. As in-
vaders, they were wont to conquer the land
they coveted ; even as exiles or fugitives, they
gradually became its magnates and the founders
of its principal families. It was as refugees
and exiles or as guests that they chiefly entered
Scotland. Disappointed of the rich possessions
they had hoped to win in England, discontented

A.D. 1097-1286.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

1.55

with the arrogance of William the Conqueror,
or dispossessed of the estates they had already
won amidst the cruel wars and court intrigues
of the Norman Conquest, they arrived, not in for-
midable bands, but singly or in small parties, and
as homeless men, to try once more in the north
that game of ambition which had gone against
them in the south. Such able and enterprising
adventurers were certain of welcome at the
court of Malcolm Canmore and his descendants.
Their weight was of the utmost consequence in
the struggle for ascendency that was still pend-
ing between Celt and Saxon; their skiU in
arms and renown in war made them doubly
welcome to a brave people who only wanted
good leaders to head them ; while in a land so
abundant in uncultivated acres, no great stretch
of generosity was needed to reward the services
of these gallant wanderers with large estates of
heath and mountain. By these royal grants,
by fortunate intermarriages, and other means
of aggrandizement it was not long before they
became the principal aristocracy of the land, so
that there was scarcely a noble family in the
kingdom that could not ti-ace its origin to some
adventurous Norman. Even the boundary of
tlie Lowlands of Scotland was no obstacle to the
enterprise or cheek to the ambition of these
daring strangers, who won their way into the
Highlands, and became at length the principal
chieftains of the fierce and jealous mountaineers.
This was the greatest victory of all, when we
remember the Celtic prejudice and devotedness
to patriarchal descent that had to be overcome
before these Norman intruders — men of yester-
day and nowhere, according to Highland reck-
oning— became the Grants, the Gordons, and the
Campbells of a Celtic community. And yet in
a few generations the descendants of these men
were to be found as mountain satraps, wearing
no dress but the tai-tan, speaking no language
but Gaelic, and identifying themselves with the
politics of Highland feuds and the literature of
Highland genealogies. Men who could thus
surmount or conquer the law of Tanistry itself,
in its own stronghold, were assuredly worthy of
their elevation.

To this ready welcome so frankly accorded to
the strangers may be traced the easy and silent
establishment of the feudal system in Scotland,
in contrast to the example of England. Into
the latter country the Normans liad come a.s
hostile aliens and invaders, whose avowed object
was to slay and take possession ; and the land
which they had won by the sword they were
obliged to defend by the sword against a people
who had envied them a-s conquerora and hated
them as tyrants and usur|)ers. Hence it is that
so Large and important a portion of the history

of England is the record of a systematic war
against feudalism, and a struggle of the com-
mons with the nobility, until, after centuries of
a life-and-death conflict,, the latter were obliged
to succumb. But the different mode of their
entrance into Scotland was followed by different
results. Their superiority was recognized by a
free and willing people, and their establishment
in place and power was a spontaneous reward
for gallant and useful serWces. This principle
of gi-atitude, however, of itself could scarcely
have withstood the wear and tear of centuries;
and when these reciprocities had ceased to be
remembered — when the mutual jealousy be-
tween the rulei-s and the ruled had produced
its wonted fruits, in the form of oppression on
the one hand and resistance on the other — it
might have been expected that the Scots, like
their brethi'en of England, would have rebelled
against the descendants of the aliens.aud ejected
them from a supremacy which they were no
longer worthy to hold. But against such a reac-
tion a hereditary piinciple of the national char-
acter opposed an effectual banier. This was the
patriarchal or clannish devotedness of the people,
which they had derived from their Asiatic an-
cestry. The whole nation had been Celtic be-
fore they became Teutonic ; and the Saxon im-
migrations, instead of being visits, as in England,
of conquest and extinction, were only those of
interfusion and amalgamation. In this manner
Caledonian and Pict, and Dalriad and Cruithne
Scot, had been able to unite on equal and
amicable terms with the Norwegian, the Dane,
and the Belgian, the Saxon and the Norman ;
and the result of this union was a mingled race,
half Celtic, half Teutonic, in which they differed
from the English, who were almost wholly
Teuton. And to this large proportion of Celtic
blood and character which was retained un-
subdued, and which blended with the Gothic
current, may be traced many of those peculiari-
ties of national character by which the Lowland
Scots were distinguished from their Saxon kins-
men of England. It especially inspired thcra
with the tendency to separate into tribes and
families — to abide by territorial and consan-
guineous instead of national and common dis-
tinctions— to follow out their feuds against each
other when they should have been united for
their common welfare — and above all, to rally
round theii- own chief or noble, let whosoever
might be sovereign of the kingdom, and to
follow him implicitly through good and through
evil. This devotedness w.as nothing more, and
nothing else, than the old patriarchal system of
the Celts, which still continues to predominate
wherever that race is found ; an<I the feudal
system which was engrafted upon it made little

156

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-128t;.

alteration in its spirit or additional weight in
its obligations. It was from these compounded
nationalities of two different races, from whom
they were equally- derived, that the Scots during
the feudal ages adhered to their nobles with a
pertinacity which neither time nor misfortunes
could impair, whUe the English looked on and
wondered. The latter could not comprehend
such an Asiatic devotedness in a people speak-
ing the same language as themselves, and were
apt to laugh at it as unreasonable, or despise it
as abject and slavish. Even modern philoso-
phers and historians also, either overlooking the
twofold ancestry of the Scots, or holding it in
little account, have been too apt to sympathize
with this wonderment or derision. They can-
not comprehend why, against all right and
reason, Scotland should have persisted in cher-
ishing its feudal predilections, when the other
nations of Europe had given them to the winds.

When the inHuence of original descent upon
the formation of national as well as individual
chai'acter has been more fully investigated and
better ascertained, many of those anomalies
which ai-e so perplexing in Scottish history
may be found of easy solution upon the prin-
ciple we have already stated. It often seems,
indeed, as if we were perusing the record of two
different peoples, when we find them at one
time so ready to yield to bondage, and at an-
other to fight for freedom to the death — at one
time so fickle in their purposes, and at another
so pertinacious and unyielding — so irregularly
great and noble, and so subject to sudden transi-
tions, that their whole history is a series of
startling changes, in which •lactories and de-
feats ai-e alternated like the fictions of a romance
rather than the orderly developments of usual
history. How were the men of one and the same
nation so hot, headstrong, and rash, and yet so
proverbially cautious and calculating ? Was it
according as the Celtic or the Saxon element
might chance for the time to prevail ? And did
the two contradictory elements continue to
divide the national character upon equ;il terms,
until the heavier and more substantial, aided by
political and religious circumstances from with-
out, at length obtained the predominance?
These questions, which are offered as sugges-
tive hints rather than solutions, may go far to
explain the mystery.

While Scotland, still a Celtic kingdom, was
receiving a foreign population, by which its
power and resources were to be so greatly aug-
mented, another branch of the great Gothic
family arrived to impart a new element of
strength which the country still needed. These
were the Flemings, who were now to add their
commercial skill and enterprise to the agricul-

tui-al industry of the Saxon and the military
qualities of the Norman. Originally called into
England during the civil wars of Stephen, tliey
had so increased in strength and numbers as to
excite the national jealousy : on this account
many of them being expelled on the accession
of Henry II., repaired to Scotland in the middle
of the twelfth century. Their offers of military
service were readily accepted by William the
Lion; and, finding them brave and useful auxil-
iaries in his wars against the English, he granted
them settlements, where they congregated into
tovms and villages, until at length they were
to be found in large communities in most of the
districts of Scotland. As traders, handicrafts-
men, and fishers they introduced into Scotland
those manufacturing and commercial arts by
which they had not only enriched, but in a great
measure created the land of their nativity. As
merchants they appear to have been sometimes
incorporated into companies, and invested with
extraordinary privileges; — as in the instance of
the Red-hall of Berwick, which they were allowed
to occupy on the tenure of defending it against
the Enghsb. But they werestout wan-iors as well
as industrious traffickers and manufacturers;
and as such they founded several noble families
that were afterwards conspicuous in Scottish
history. Of these it is enough to mention the
Flemings, the Leslies, and the Murrays. But a
still more illustrious Scottish race from this
Belgic ancestry was that of the Douglases,
which, after all its mythic and lofty pretensions
to the eai-liest of origins, can go no higher than
"TheobaldusFlammaticus." This Theobald the
Fleming about the middle of the twelfth cen-
tiuy received a gi'ant of some lands on the
Duglas Water, in Lanarkshire, from Arnald,
Abbot of Kelso; and William, the son and heir
of Theobald, was the firet who attached the dis-
tinction of de Duglas to his name.

The change of Scotland from a Celtic to an
Anglo-Saxon kingdom was necessarily accom-
panied with corresponding changes in the form
of government. The firat and most important
of these was the recognition of one man as the
chief ruler or sovereign of the land instead of
a host of independent kingUngs ; and the nor-
thern law of direct royal succession instead of
the Tanist rule. This king by established right,
instead of temporary election and voluntary con-
cession, could claim the leadership of the na-
tional armies, the convocation of parliaments
and councils, the enactment of laws, and the
administration of public justice. These im-
portant offices, however, were not to be exer-
cised by his own sole authority, but with the
advice and consent of those who held the highest
influence in the realm. And foremost of these

A.D. 1097-12SIJ.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

157

were the principal clergy, the spiritual guides
of the people. Hence it is that as soon as we
read of Scottish parliaments, we always find the
bishops, abbots, and priors placed at the head
of the list. Next to them were the earls and
lords, the chief nobility of the kingdom and
custodiers of its civil and military resources.
At what precise time the title of earl was in-
troduced into Scotland does not clearly appear;
but the change was one in name oidy, and not
in character and substance, for the Celtic mor-
maors and their descendants under the new
appellations stQl retained their old possessions
and privileges.

Independently of a royal council, in which
every national movement was discussed, high
and influential officers were needed to carry
its decisions into action; and accordingly offices
were established both in coiu-t and state to
which these duties were attached. In most
cases, also, as in other sovereign courts from the
earliest commencement of royalty, these im-
portant functionaries were generally chosen from
the persons who were nearest the king, and who
superintended the menial duties of the palace.
From the high families they founded, and the
important influence they exercised in the sub-
sequent events of the national history, a brief
enumeration of the principal officers of the
Anglo-Norman sovereigns of Scotland may here
be not out of place. These were —

The Butler, under the various titles of Pin-
cerna, Buttelarius, and Minister Foculorum.
Although so essential an appendage to royalty
is not mentioned in our Scottish annals previous
to the reign of Edgar, some such functionary
assuredly must have existed in the early Pictish
and Scottish courts. Under the new Saxon and
Anglo-Norman dynasty, the office was heredi-
tarily established in the powerful family of de
Soulis.

The Doorkeeper or Door-ward (Ostiarius).
The most distinguished of these doorkeepers
was Alan Durward, who was also Chief Justi-
ciary, and so distinguished by talent and am-
bition as to give uneasiness to Henry III. of
England, who procured his displacement.

The Steward (Seneschalus). This office, which
was first conferred by David I. on Walter Fitz-
alau, an English knight, was established here-
ditarily in his family by Malcolm IV. Little
could it have been surmised at tlie time that
this office would furnish the patronymic for
the future dynasty not only of Scotland but of
tin' island at large ; an<l that descendants of
Walter the Steward would rule over terri-
tories then undreamt of.

The Constable (Constahuhriiis). This office
we firet hear of in Scotland under the reign of

Alexander I. It was held successively by the
Morevilles, lords of Galloway, the Earl of
Winchester, and tlie Earl of Buchan, until at
the close of this period it fell into the powerful
family of the Comyns. Afterwards it was con-
firmed in the family of De la Hay, where it still
remains.

The MarahaU (Mareschcdus). This ofiBce ex-
isted in Scotland dui-ing the reign of David I.,
and was made hereditary in the family of Keith,
by William the Lion, before the close of the
twelfth century.

The Chamberlain (Camerarius). This office
was held by several high nobles successively
without being established in any particular
family.

The Chancellor {Cayicelariiis). We do not
hear in Scotland of a royal chancellor until the
reign of Alexander I., although a much earlier
antiquity is pleaded for the office.

The Treasurer {Expensarius). At first this
duty, which in Scotland must have been a sine-
cure, was discharged by the chamberlain until
William the Lion had a pui-se-bearer of his
own. When there was so little to expend, the
office did not come fully into notice until a con-
siderably later period.

Such were the titles and offices, originally
humble enough, out of which the high civil
and military leaders of the nation were estab-
lished ; they rose with the rise of royalty itself
and participated in its giandeur and power.
It will be seen that both title and office were
the same as had been established in the English
court under the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Nor-
man sovereigns, whose example it was natural
for the new dynasty of Scotland to adopt as its
model. As in England, also, some of them were
of arbitrary and others of hereditary appoint-
ment. The Norman nobles of England in their
Ciistles followed the example of the sovei-eign in
his palace by appointing similar office-bearers,
through whom they ruled their limited do-
mains in the style and with the authority of
kings ; and the tempting examjjle was not lost
upon the Scottish magnates, who, in imitation
of their richer brethren of the south, exalted
their favoured dependants into coust;ibles, stew-
ards, cup-bearers, butlei-s, and marshalLs, and
invested them with substantial rule as well as
title. In this way even a Scottish peel was a
palace upon a humble scale, and the domain that
belonged to it a little kingdom ruled by its civil
and military officials. This examjilo, too, was
adopted even by the spiiitual lords, who had a
feudal giandeur of li\ing to maintain as well as
wars to wage and trespjissers to punish. Ac-
cordingly, in an old charter of the latter part of
the twelfth century containing a grant made by

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-1286.

Richard, Bishop of Saint Andrews, the docu-
ment is witnessed by his chaplains, steward, cup-
bearer, chancellor, marshall, and doorkeeper.

During the reigns of the firet three Scoto-
Saxon kings the administration of public justice
seems to have been exercised by the sovereign
in person, as is the usual custom of governments
and kingdoms in their youthful and primitive
form. But these duties soon become too bur-
densome for one man ; and sucli was the case in
Scotland, so that during the reigns of Alexander
I. and David I. we find two great justiciai'ies
presiding, the one over the northern and the
other over the southern division of the king-
dom. During the minority of Alexander III.
an additional justiciary was appointed over the
troubled districts of Galloway. But besides
these three principal dispensers of law, the
countiy, as Saxon nde extended, began to be
divided into sheriffdoms, as in England, each
having its presiding magistrate or sheriff, who
in the earUest instances was appointed by the
king; and following the royal example, the
great loi-ds and barons had also their sheriffs
who administered justice over the districts of
their feudal superiors.

An office of this period also which has been
magnified into luidue importance was that of
the thane or thegn, which is erroneously sup-
posed to have been of Celtic origin and to have
existed in Scotland from the earhest period,
while the authority of its honoured holder is
supposed to have been next to that of royalty
itself. But the name as well as office is evi-
dently Saxon, and can only date in Scotland
from the accession of the Scoto - Saxon sove-
reigns. Instead, also, of being high nobles
and royal counsellors, the dispensei's of royal
decrees and the leaders of armies, these Scottish
thanes appear to have been land-stewards or
bailiffs over districts and royal manors. Such
were then- thanages, in which their chief duty
was to superintend the agricultm-al proceed-
ings and collect the rents and imposts. As
the church lands and manors continued to mul-
tiply similar officials were needed for ecclesi-
astical property, and on this account abthanes
were also appointed by the bishops and abbots.
After the present period of our history they
disappear from public notice, having probably
sunk into mere rent-collectoi-s and land-factoi-s.

Of the laws of Scotland and the mode of their
administration during this period of obscurity
and turmoil it is still more difficult to treat, and
after all that has been written upon the subject
we can only dismiss it with a very summary
and uncertain notice. It is evident from the
mixed state of society where so many rude
elements of the future population were brought

into closer contact, and from the transition
state which they were now undergoing in the
process of incorporation, that a struggle must
have been going on for the mastery among the
laws and rights of the different tribes and races ;
and that the conflict must have been especially
strong between the new Anglo - Saxon and
Anglo-Norman institutions, which were now
acquiring the ascendency, and the old Celtic
laws and usages, that would not relinquish then-
rule without a keen resistance. Much, there-
fore, must have depended upon the kind of
population, whether Norse, Belgian, Celtic, or
Saxon, that happened to predominate in the
different districts, and upon the discretion or
arbitrary decisions of the judges who were
placed over them. No entire code could be
thi'ust upon the nation at once and at sword-
point, as had been done in England, first by the
Saxon and afterwards by the Norman conquer-
ors; and even when Scottish legislation had
finally suKsided into a national code it was a
compromise formed by the union of the old
laws with the new. In the meantime the adop-
tion of the usage of England by the division of
the country into sliires, and the establishment
of sheriffs, was a gradual work that went on
with the advance and increase of the Saxon
population in Scotland; and it was not untd
considerably after the present period that the
division of the whole kingdom into sheriffdoms
was fuDy effected. The sovereign still con-
tinued to appoint his judges for counties, and
the lord his magistrates for baronies, who dis-
pensed justice in that summary form which
characterizes every rude age and people. The
utter absence of any authenticated code of Scot-
tish legislation during this transition period
has given rise to many theories upon the sub-
ject; and the Legei Malcolmi, the Regiam Majes-
iateni, and the Leges Burgorum have all had
their advocates to prove that each of these con-
stituted the statute-book of Scotland. But these
conjectures ai'e so vague as to be imsuited to
the purposes of history, and may be safely left
to the caprice of the controversialist. We
know, however, that the difficulties of the judge
must have been but too well simplified in those
days, from the condition of the people who de-
pended upon his awards. Over him there was
no control but that of his feudal superior. As
yet what is called the middle class was too
limited to be influential, and the population
almost wholly consisted of the two extremes of
the ruler and ruled — the master and the slave.
On the other hand, however, it is gratifying to
find that these laws, whatever they may have
been or however derived, which existed from
the period of the accession of Edgar to the

A.D. 1097-1286.]

death of Alexander III., seem to have suited
the condition of the people and to have been as
cordially cherished as laws are wont to be. This
was manifested at the close of the period, when
the death of the last-mentioned king threatened
the subversion of the old order of things with
the introduction of a new dynasty. On this
occasion, when the marriage of Margaret of
Norway to the English Prince of Wales was
proposed, the people regarded their laws as the
national palladium, so that the marriage con-
tract stijjulated for their entire and unchanged
maintenance.

The amount of slavery at this time existing
in Scotland appears to liave been as great as in
any other European nation, and to have origin-
ated in similar causes. We know not to what
extent, or in what condition, the distinction of
the people into bond and free may have existed
during the Celtic period ; but in the Saxon it
must have greatly accumulated from the de-
structive inroads which the Scots were wont
to make into the English counties. On these
occasions prisoners, who were converted into
shives, wei'e in as great demand as any other
article of booty ; and the Scots are described as
driving them like flocks of sheep before them,
and in such numbers, that every house in Scot-
land was supplied with an English slave. Be-
sides this supply from the resources of war, the
frequent famines of this age of ill-und'Crstood
and scantily-practised agriculture were so severe,
that whole multitudes frequently sold them-
selves and their ciiildren into slavery when
death from starvation was the only alternative.
But, besides these captives and purchased bond-
men, there were the peasantry of the royal and
noble manora, who belonged to the land, and
were sold or transferred along with it — and in
many cases without it. This enslaved peasanti-y,
whether foreign or native, who were considered
as part of tlie landownert chattels, and distin-
guished by the title of his " men," or villeyns,
are also sjiecified in old charters of transfer under
the titles of nativi, servi, cottarii, capiivi, bondi,
bondayii, tenandii, /msbandii, drengi. From
the time of Malcolm Canmore tdl the close of
the present period we find this change of owner-
ship so frequent, and the cidtivators of the soil
so invariably treated as part of the live stock, as
to give a melanclvoly picture of the condition
of the gi-eater part of the Scottish peas;intry.
Onward also to the fifteenth century this prac-
tice continued, as a right of property in selling
or granting land, to liand it over "cmhi TUitivis
et eorum seqztelis." Still Scotland was not sin-
gular in tliis degrading practice: it w;i8 tlie law
of the period, and it prevailed not only in Eng-
land but throughout Europe at large.

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

159

As if the serfdom, however, of the Scottish
peasantry had not ah'eady been sufficiently op-
pressive, many authors have been pleased to add
to its aggravations the law called mercheta
mulierum. According to Boece this law was
devised by the profligate King Eveuus, who
reigned a short time before the commencement
of the Christian era; and it granted to every
feudal lord the right of a husband to the
daughter of any of his vassals on the firat night
of her espousal. He adds that this practice
continued in full force till the reign of Malcolm
Canmore, by whom it was commuted into a fine
in money. But Scotland was not the only
country to which this odium was confined : the
same law is stated also to have prevailed in
England, France, and several countries of the
Continent; and modern writers have in many
cases exhausted theii' learning to prove that
such was one of the many feudal rights which
were generally recognized during the dark ages,
when feudalism was at its height. But after all
that has been written upon the subject, it ap-
peal's to have been nothing more than the mis-
take of a later period, founded upon a mis-
intei-pretation of the old feudal phraseology.
Stripped, therefore, of its ten-ors, this Scottish
mercheta midieram dwindles into a landlord's
trifling money-tax for the loss of the services of
one of his vassals, who, by marriage away from
his land and to a stranger, became the property
of another. As we have already seen, not only
the villeyn, but his children and descendants,
were the property of the lord of the soil. If his
sous attemjited to escape fi'om their master they
could be reclaimed and pimished; but not so his
daughters, when they transferred themselves
from his yoke to that of matrimony; and in this
ciise his only recompense was a fine paid by the
father of the bride on obtaining his lord's allow-
ance for the man-iage. In this way, also, pious
prelates and abbots were repaid for the loss of
their female vassals, instead of having recourse
to the strange composition permitted or en-
joined by the law of Evenus. By the same
right of fine the landlord was also the protector
of female chastity among his dependants, as in
the case of seduction lie could also impose upon
the offendere the same pecuniary compensation.

In turning om- attention to the commercial
history of Scotland during this period, we find
that the traffic with foreign merchants, so wisely
commenced by Malcolm Canmore and his queen
Margaret, had been actively followed by his suc-
cessor. This we gather from the fact inciden-
tally mentioned by Wyntoun, that Alexander I.
presented to the chiu-ch of St. Andrews an
Aiabian horse with its velvet ti-appiugs and a
suit of Turkish armour. The fact of a Scottish

160

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1097-1286.

king possessing such unwonted luxuries, seems
to iudiaite the rich foreign produce which was
already in request in so remote a market as that
of Scotland. From the letter of Nicolas to
Eadmer we also hear of the rich pearls found
in the Scottish rivers, which this sovereign
possessed, and that no doubt served as an article
of bai-ter in this foreign traffic. The com-
merce of the country was extended under the
administration of David I., who had profited
by the mercantile experience he had acquired
by his residence in England. He encouraged
the entrance of foreign merchandise into the
Scottish hai'bours, and is described by Ailred
as the protector of strangers and merchants,
to whose applications he always lent a ready
ear. To him is generally attributed the first
erection of Scottish burghs, and a code of laws
for the manufacturers, dyers, and dressers of
woollen cloth. It is certain, however, that a
great source of national wealth, the herring
fishery of Scotland, was mainly commenced
under his reign, when the Firth of Forth was
often filled with the fishing-boats, not only of
his own subjects, but of those from the English
coasts, and even from Belgium. At this early
period the following Scottish ports are men-
tioned a§ commercial towns : Berwick, Leith,
Stirling, Perth, Old and New Aberdeen, and
probably Banfi'. That, however, which w;ia to
become the greatest and most important of all
oui' Scottish trading cities and ports, was only
as yet indicated by a stately cathedral and a
shallow river, the former of which owed its
foundation to David, while Eaid of Cumberland.
Such, with a few straggling hamlets round the
church, was Glasgow in the early part of the
twelfth century. About sixty years after its
consequence was raised by being made a burgh
subject to its bishops, to whom was granted the
privilege of holding an annual fair.

During the reign of William the Lion the
progress of Scottish merchandise and manu-
factures had so much increased that the burghs
alone were able to contribute 6000 marks to
the 15,000 which was to form the marriage por-
tion of his two daughters. It is unfortunate,
however, that we are still unalile to ascertain
the particular laws by which the burghs were
governed, the difierent handicrafts that were
pursued in them, the proficiency they had at-
tained, and the commercial condition of the
kingdom at large at the accession of Alex-
ander III. This period at all events seems to
have been the commencement of a new era in
the history of Scottish merchandise. During
the minority of the young king, as we learn
from the Scotichronicon, a new coinage had to
be introduced into the country in imitation of

the example of England, where the clipping of
money had lessened the intrinsic value of the
standard coinage. But the best proof of pro-
gress was the reputation for skill in ship-buUd-
ing which the Scots had already acquii'ed among
foreign nations, of which a signal proof was
given at this period by the French Count of St.
Paid and Blois. When he was to join his sove-
reign Louis IX. in the Crusade, his ship, which
was one of the great vessels of the fleet, was
constructed at Inverness. That a quarter
reckoned so obscure should at that time have
been so renowned, and its cai-penters so skilfid
as to procure such an appUcation from France
itself, gives a higher measure of the resources
of the country and ability of its workmen than
has generally been conceded.

The reign of Alexander III. is reckoned the
golden age of Scotland ; and it stands out in
strong relief on account of the darkness by
which it was so suddenly succeeded. Descend-
ing to particulars, we find that his mother, the
queen-dowager, was entitled to a third of the
net royal revenue, and that she derived from it
an income of 4000 marks. This information,
which we derive from a notice of Matthew
Paris, raises the royal revenue of Scotland to
12,000 marks yearly. Although we cannot now
fuUy estimate its real value, we may conjecture
that this was a very large sum, when we re-
member that Henry III. of England, who en-
gaged to pay Alexander 5000 marks as his
daughter's portion, in a period of four years was
unable to raise the money, and had to crave a
year additional. If we are to receive the Statuta
Oildcennd I(ei-Camerarii,aa pubhshed by Skene,
for authentic documents, we learn much in the
details of the Scottish merchandise of this period.
In these we find that there was a court of the
four burghs, composed of representatives from
Berwick, Edinburgh, Roxburgh, and Stirling,
and that they judged in all matters pertaining
to commerce and the constitutions and customs
of the burghs. There was also the chamberlain's
court which superintended the trade, the burghs,
and the general police of the kingdom. The
chamberlain made periodical visits to the towns
throughout the land, caiTying with him standai-d
weights and measiu-es, by which he tested those
that were in use in difi'erent places. It was his
duty, also, to prevent those who took up goods
on the king's behalf from using their office dis-
honestly by paying less for them than the ap-
pointed value, or not paying at all. Belonging
to this court, moreover, we are told there were
inspectora, who examined cloth, bread, and casks
of liquor, to ascertain that they were of due
quantity and quality, and to attest them with
their seals of office ; while other officers, called

A.D. 1097-1286.]

UISTOKY OF SOCIETY.

161

trovers, had the inspection of wool. By this
chamberlain's court, also, the salmon fishery
was regulated, and fishing for salmon during
the night, or when they were not in season,
prohibited.!

Of the other particulars of the reign of
Alexander III. connected with the commercial
prosperity of Scotland the following are stated
by Wyntoun and Fordun. His laws for the
promotion of agi'ioultiu-al industry were so effec-
tual that the land produced crops of grain in
greater abundance than it had done in any for-
mer period. His regulations abridged the use-
less and unwieldy trains of barons and prelates,
so that hoi-ses were kept for industry and the
national defence instead of lordly parade. He
promoted the fisheries of the country; and the
processes of curing fish were practised by the
Scots perhaps even eai-lier than in Flanders,
while this article of traffic was in considerable
request both in England and upon the Conti-
nent. He stiuctly enforced the laws of debtor
and creditor, by which the movable property
of the former was sold by the sheriff to satisfy
the just claims of the latter. By the laws of
shipwreck, which were probably adopted from
England and established during his reign, the
property of vessels wrecked on the Scottish
coast, instead of being treated as a waif, was
jjreserved for the owners. A market so well
regulated and so profitable as that of Scotland
had now become was certain to attract the
attention of foreign merchants; and among
these were a body of Lombards, at this time the
wealthiest and most enterprising traffickera in
Europe. Their design was to settle in the coun-
try, and for this piu'pose they requested the
king to grant them the mount above Queens-
ferry or the small island near Cramond for the
establishment of their chief factory. But un-
fortunately these modest demands, which might
have proved so profitable to Scotland, were
opposed by some of the most influential of the
courtiers, and the plan of Lombard settlements
was abandoned. Another instance also shows
that the spirit of mercantile adventuie had to
contend with the prejudices of the age. The
loss of Scottish vessels by shipwreck, pirates,
and arrest in foreign ports, had so alarmed the
king that his subjects for a time were prohibited
from exporting goods in their own ships— a
liea\'y discouragement, among other evils, to
that naval architecture which, as we have al-
ready seen, was ali-eady making considerable
progre.>w in Scotland. Another restriction ujxm
commerce w;i3 a law by which foreign mer-
chanta arriving from abroiul were limited from

I Uacphenon'B AnnaU qf Commerce, toI. i. p. 440.

disposing of their cargoes to any but burgesses.
Still, however, the mercantile spirit, though
impeded, could not be arrested by such hind-
rances ; and the old historian, who regarded
them as wise precautions, tells us that in con-
sequence of these the kingdom abounded in
corn, money, cattle, sheep, and every kind of
merchandise.

Having thus noticed the growth of the king-
dom at large during the coui-se of nearly two
centuries, our interest naturally turns to the
individual manners and customs, modes of life,
and condition of the various classes of society
during such a period of progiess and change.
But here, unfortunately, the materials are still
so scanty and so casual that we are almost wholly
left to inference and conjecture. Of pubHc royal
life and its simple patriarchal character we
have already seen as much as can be learned
during the course of the nai'rative. The Scoto-
Saxon descent of the sovereigns had no doubt
its influence in assimilating, as far as could be
done, the palace Hfe of Scotland to that of Eng-
land. The allowance granted from the treasury
of England to these Scottish kings, when in-
vited to the English court, may, in the absence
of other information, be perhaps taken as a gene-
ral standard of their way of living at home. It
was fixed at 100s. per diem dm-ing their jour-
ney in going and returning, and 30«. per day
during their attendance at the English court.
WhUe the last-mentioned allowance continued
there was added to it a provision supply con-
sisting of twelve loaves of wastel bread, twelve
wheaten loaves; twelve quarts of wine, of
which four were of superior quality, for the
king's own use; two stone of wax or foui" tajiers;
120 candles, of which forty were for the king's
use ; two pounds of pepper and fom- pounds of
cinnamon. These, with the 30s., seem to have
been considered an ample daily allowance for
the royal household and table. The inordinate
quantity of spice can be easily accounted for by
the supposition that the Scots, like the English,
used it largely in their cookery, until their
dishes were " burning with wildfire," and that
they were also partial to the use of hypocr.os.
Besides the ordinary train Alexander III., in
his journey to London, had among his attend-
ants a harper, minstrels, and trumpeters, whose
expenses during the visit were paid by the
English king.

Of tlie amusements of the Scottish kings and
nobles during this period we have almost no
account. That tournaments were not iinkuowii
among them we learn incidentally, but tlie
greater poverty and rudeness of Scotland must
have made these chivalrous pageants less fre-
quent than among the nobility of France and

1C2

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

England. Chivalry itself, also, having been a
recent importation into Scotland, and chiefly
limited to the Norman strangers, must have had
its sports and exercises for the present confined
witldn a very limited range. The same may
be surmised of the military amusements of the
people at large, on account of the rude weapons
they used and the little skill required in wielding
them. Indeed, the brief sketch given by Aldred
of the equipments of the Scottish ai-my that
fought the battle of the Standard exhibits the
nature of the warhke practices that must have
been used among the different classes, as well as
the contrast between the high-spirited and well-
traiued knight and the half-armed, half-naked
Celtic or Saxon military serf. The Norman
chivalrj' under the command of Henry was a
small but chosen band, armed in linked mail and
mounted upon strong foreign war-horses; and
their gallant charge alone had well-nigh won
the victory for Scotland. On the other hand,
the bulk of that array seem to have had nothing
better than their brittle iU- tempered swords,
their enormously long and fragile speare, and
light small leather-covered targets — the same
weapons with which the legions of Agricola had
been encountered at the battle of the Grampians.
In this dearth, however, of spoi-ts and amuse-
ments of a whoUy mihtary chai-acter, which
would have ensirred better weapons and a mure
perfect discipUne, these bold Scots betook them-
selves to other sources for enlivening the dul-
ness of a campaign ; and we leai-n from the same
authority that jesters as well as male and female
dancers accompanied them in their march.
These dancers, and jestei's or fools, were also in
high request among the nobles of England,
although we do not find them brought into the
field along with their mihtary retainers.

In the absence of more intellectual resources
hunting forms a princijial amusement of every
people ; but this sport, which was a passion with
the Anglo-Saxons, became a downright frenzy
with the Norman conquerors of England. It
would have been strange, therefore, if Scotland
during its change from a Celtic into a Saxon
kingdom had not exhibited this characteristic
tendency, and prosecuted for pleasure what had
originally been followed as a necessity. Ac-
cordingly we find more ample notices of hunt-
ing in the old Scottish records than of any other
kind of royal or noble amusement. Tlie kings
were ardent hunters, and in several shires liad
forests and hunting-lodges for their exclusive
pursuit of this favourite recreation; and from
the chartei-s of the period we learn that a tenth
of the venison, or skins of animals killed in the
chase, was frequently bestowed upon the neigh-
bouring monastery. The nobility also had their

[x.D. 1097-1286.

hunting-grounds, and in grants of land to their
follower's often reserved for themselves all right
to the beasts of venery, such as stags, wild boara,
and wild goats, and the birds of game; leaving
no right to the new possessors to lay any snares
or gins upon the grounds except for the purpose
of catching wolves. With hunting the stiiriug
sport of hawking was also pursued at this period,
and from Ranulph, the falconer of William the
Lion, was descended the family of the Falconera
of Halkerton, hereditary grand falconers of Scot-
land, ancestors of the eai-ls of Kintore. It is
gratifying, however, to add that the inordinate
passion for the chase which, as well as the love
of war, formed the chief characteristic of the
Norman race, was kept in wholesome check in
Scotland, so that neither its Saxon sovereigns
nor its Norman nobility could lay waste whole
counties, as was done by William the Conquei'or
and his successors in England. This was only
the stem right of conquest and the right of the
stronger, which, as we have ah-eady seen, the
royal dynasty and nobility of Scotland were in
no condition to claim.

In the less stirring amusements of the period
may be classed dancing and those rude masque-
rades which are common to all nations. Under
this last particular- the reader cannot yet have
forgot the loathly phantasm which presented
itself at the man-iage festival of Alexander III.
While the mirth was at its height this ghost
appeai-ed among the dancei-s, we are told, wear-
ing the form of a corpse whose flesh had de-
parted from the bones, and who seemed to glide
along rather than touch the ground. Such mum-
ming and masquerading, though not carried to
such a height, was perhaps becoming the usual
accompaniment of noble festivals at the close of
this period.

Of the condition of clerical society and the
manner's of the Scottish priesthood our infor-
mation is, if possible, still more scantj'; theii'
refectories and their cells, their studies and
recreations, are alike unknown to us. But that
the order produced no chi-oniclers or poets of
mai'k, and even no skilful illuminators of psal-
ters and missals, seems to be certain from the
fact that no trace of their laboura in this way
has survived or even been announced by tradi-
tion. In the absence of other information we
may therefore imagine that theii' studies and
cares were chiefly occupied in maintaining their
ecclesiastical independence against Home and
England, improving their revenues, and culti-
vating their gardens ami orchards. That they
were liberal of their charity we leai'n from a
fact incidentally stated by Fordun, of Waltheof,
Abbot of Melrose. In one of those severe
famines in the reign of David I., with which

A.D. 1097-128«.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

1G3

the land was often visited, 4000 half-starved
wretches took up their abode in the neighbour-
hood of the abbey, where they were fed by the
provident bounty of the superior for three
months until the public calamity had abated.
That these genei'ous benefactoi-s were not also
negligent of their own comforts we may guess
from a statement of the same historian. It is
to the effect that William de Malvoison, Bishop
of St. Andrews, during the earUer part of the
thirteenth century, deprived the abbey of Dun-
fermline of the presentation to two churches
because its monks had neglected to supply him
with enough of wine for his collation after
supper. It is added, indeed, that the good men
had not really failed in this token of respect to
their spii-itual superior, but that his own attend-
ants had consumed the supply. In this beUi-
gereut age also, when the prelate was ready to
become a warlike captain and the monk a bold
man-at-arms, the athletic military exercises that
formed the needful training were not likely to
be unknown even within the peaceful precincts
of the monastery. Having thus weapons within
their reach, and skill to use them, the tempta-
tion could sometimes induce the high church
dignitaries to settle their feuds with the car-
nal but convincing arguments of feudal barons
rather than of peaceful priests and studious
logicians. Such a case occurred a.d. 12G9, when
the Abbot of Melrose made a hostile sally into
the district of Stow, assaulted certain houses
belonging to the Bishop of St. Andrews, and
slaughtered a priest, besides wounding many
others. It is gratifying, however, to find that
for tliis improfessional outbreak the abbot and
most of his monks were excommunicated in a
provincial council held at Perth.' At this time
the coldness of the climate of Scotland was so
remarkable that the monks of Lindores, before
the close of this period, received a papal dispen-
sation not usually required in other countries ;
it was that they might wear silk caps in proces-
sions and public worship, as they were liable to
take cold " in terra frigida." This precaution
in guarding tonsured heads gives probability to
the statement of Boece, that in the first winter
of the thii-teenth century the cold was so intense
that beer was frozen into lumps and sold by the
pound !

Although Scottish towns were now rising into
historical notice, they as yet gave little promise
of the magnitude and importance they were
afterwards to attain, being little better than
irregular clusters of hovels that were chiefly
made of twigs or timber. Houses constructed of
such materials were, of course, often subjected

> Scotidinn. x. c. 26.

to accidents from fire; and accordingly we learn
from Fordun that about the year 1244 Eox-
biu-gh, Haddington, Lanark, Stirling, Perth,
Forfar, Montrose, and Aberdeen were thus
destroyed. In a country where wood at that
period was so plentiful and the standard of
domestic comfort so low, such a loss, which
sounds to modern ears like a great national
calamity, must have been little heeded and
easily repaired. The influx, however, of for-
eigners accustomed to greater refinement began
to introduce houses of stone, and when these
were erected they seem to have been remark-
able rather for strength and seciu-ity than for
elegance, as is still attested by their ruins. As
for the kings, nobles, and bishops of such a rude
and unsettled period, they seem to have pitched
their residences on a rock, where they could be
least subject to surprise or capture. Even ujjon
these, however, the storm was gathering that
was soon to lay them low, and the succeeding
generation saw most of them in ruins.

It would be well if we could redeem our
general ignorance of the Scottish architecture
of this early pei-iod by referring to the splendid
monasteries and sacred buildings, which date
theii- foundation from the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, and especially those which owed their
foundation to the piety of David I. But such
have been the effects of time, and tempest, and
human violence, of ruin and restoration, upon
these time-honoured memorials, that even their
primitive types can no longer be accurately as-
certained. The gorgeous i-uins of Meh-ose, Dry-
burgh, Kelso, and Jedburgh still an-est the eye
of the native, and allm-e the step of the foreign
visitor, while the univei-sal wonder is, that so
poor a country could have supplied such ex-
penditure, and so rude an age have manifested
such taste. But we are abruptly wakened fi-om
this delusion by the records of the buUding itself,
which inform us how often its several portions
yielded to decay, how frequently they were
visited with demolition, and how often the same
profuse but mistaken piety which fii-st erected
them, liad also to be summoned from century
to century to renew or replace tliem. We are
thus compelled to acknowledge that these won-
drous fabrics were not the work of a single
epoch or generation of workmen, but of ages,
and that they extend from the commencement
to the close of the history of Scottish ecclesias-
tical architecture.

The notices of the general mode of Scottish
living during this period are so scanty and
brief, that they may be hastily dismissed.
Agriculture was still so imperfectly practised
that famines were frequent — a circumstance
which was afterwards to make a war with Eng-

16-1<

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND

[a.d. 1097-1286.

land, and .in invasion of its well-stored granaries
and lanlei-s, no unwelcome enterprise to the
Soots. Tliej" chiefly used tlie laboui-s of the ox
in cultivating their fields in preference to the
horse, while the chief grain which they raised
at this time, as well as for ages afterwards, was
oats. The insecurity of a country so exposed to
stiife and change made it necessarj' for the
rural jwpulatiou to congregate in villages for
mutual protection, instead of dispei-sing them-
selves into separate farms, while the territory
annexed to the vilkge, divided into stripes of
arable or pasture land, furnished employment
and subsistence to the villagers. Of the little
intei\»urse which w.is thus maintained between
the difierent communities, and the risks of pass-
ing from one to another, an idea m.iy be fonned
from the fact, that in 1253 one mark was the
hire jviid to a pei'son for convejniig the sum of
twenty marks from Badeuoch to Berwick. The
condition of one of these villages at the close of
the present period is pretty clearly indicated in
the Chartulary of Kelso. We there find that
the village of Bolden in Roxburghshire, which
belonged to the abbey of Kelso, had twenty-
eight husbandmen, thirty-six cottagere, a miller,
and four brewers. Each agiiculturist held a
husband-land from the abbey, for which he
paid a rental of Gs. Sd., with certain services
and carriages. Of the cottagei-s each had neai4y
half an acre of aitible land, with the right of
common pasture, and for these they paid con-
jointly 55s. S</., with ceitain addition.al services.
There was a mill in the village which was rented
for eight m.arks, and four brewhouses that were
let for ten shillings each, the brewere being also
obliged to furnish the abbot with a l.agen and
a half of ale for a penny. (This Lagen was a
copious measui-e, though we cannot now ascer-
tain its precise amount.) In these and other
ancient Chanel's we find frequent mention of
breweries, showing that .ile was the principal
beverage of the people, and that they di-ank it
in abundance. This was especially the case
during the reign of Alexander III., when wine
and wax, no longer dainties, were also in plenti-
ful use both for lighting and cheering the festive
board.

Concerning the schools of so early and so rude
a period, it might at first sight appear almost
superfluous to speak. But that regular semina-
ries for the education of the young existed
throughout Scotl.and there is abundant proof.
To hold the superintendence of these schools,
either from motives of benevolence or ambition
or both, became an important object with the
monks, and accordingly the}- obtained grants
for the m.an.agement of the principal schools
throughout the kingdom. In this manner

David I. conceded to the monastery of Kelso
not only the superintendence of all the churches,
but all the schools within the district of Rox-
burgh; and in the latter part of the twelfth
century, the Bishop of St. Andrews confirmed
to the monks of Dunfermline the school of
Perth and that of Stilling. It was uatm-al
that these maffistri scholarum should become
influential both in the ci^nl and ecclesiastical
community, and accordingly they frequently ap-
peared by name and title in the chartulaiies
of the period. What may have been the amount
of learning jx)ssessed by these reverend pre-
ceptors to fit them for their office docs not
clearly appear; but it is evident, that in the
pi-esent condition of society they were its best
scholars, and therefore the best fitted for the
office. They taught their pupils to read and
write, and they must have taught them Latin,
the principal written language of the period.
It is probable, also, that they taught them
Norman-French, the court language of England
as well as Fi-ance. In the schools of Aberdeen
at the middle of the thirteenth century it was
required, that among theii- other branches of
iusti-uction the pupils should be taught grammar
and logic. We may conclude, however, that
as yet these schools were not very numerously
attended, and that onlj- the children of the
high-bom and the rich, or those who were de-
stined for the church, frequented them. But
let us beware how we smile at such schools and
such teachei-s when we remember the pupils
who at its close wei'e in training. A school-boy,
William Wallace, was taking lessons in Latin
fi-om his uncle, who was priest and school-
master— and was engraving upon his memory
the leonine Latin verse which taught him there
was nothing like liberty, and exhorted him
never to live in bondage. Robert Bruce, also
a stripling, was acquu-ing that scholarship which
enabled him to read the romance of Ferembras,
with which he cheered his followers in their
wanderings, and persuaded them that nothing
was impossible to the brave. And alas ! must
we also be reminded that school-boys were
learning the art of writing, the only evidence of
whose proficiencj" should remain in the signa-
tures of the Ragm.an Roll, by which they gave
their own freedom and that of their country
away?

During this age, however, so unintellectual
and undistinguished in other respects, Scotland
was so fortunate as to possess both an erudite
soholai- and a distinguished jwet. The fii'st of
these was Sir Michael Scot of Rilwearie ; the
second, Thomas Rymer, author of the metrical
romance of .Sir Tristram.

Michael Scot is supposed to ktve been bom

A.D. 1097-1286.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

165

somewhere about the year 1214, although the
exact place of his birth and also his parentage
are unknown. Of a studious inquiring mind he
soon exhausted tlie few means of learning which
his country afforded, and betook himself to the
University of Oxford, where he became distin-
guished for his proficiency in the sciences of
a.stronomy and chemistry as they were then
taught, and in the Latin and Arabic languages.
He next proceeded to the University of Paris,
where he so highly signalized himself by his
progress in mathematics as to obtain the name
of " Michael the Mathematician," and in divi-
nity, as to be made a doctor in theology. His
thirst of knowledge still increasing with every
fresh acquirement, he next went to the college of
Padua; and here he turned his studies in astro-
nomy to the usual account by making them
subservient to astrology, in which he showed
himself a devout believer, so that his essays
on that science and his predictions spread his
renown over Europe, and made him be re-
garded as one of the greatest soothsayers of the
age. Afterwards he was successively a student
at Toledo, a royal astrologer to Frederick II. of
Germany, and a physician; in every change a
restless inquirer after knowledge, and in every
place an honoured guest on account of his pro-
phetic character. On his return homeward,
after many years spent in study and travel, he
pas-sed through England, where he made some
stay at the court of Edward I., by whom he
was treated with great distinction : he arrived
in Scotland shortly after the death of Alex-
ander III., in consequence of which event he
was sent, with Sir David Weems, to Norway,
for the purpose of bringing the Maid of Norway
to her Scottish throne. Thus far extends the
credible history of Michael Scot, who died at a
good old age, a.d. 1292, and was buried, as is
generally supposed, in the abbey of Melrose.
That he was one of the most accomplished
scholars of that early age, and yet not in ad-
vance of its superstitions, is manifest from the
list of his various writings. It was not, how-
ever, as a scholar, but as a mighty magician, that
he was reverenced, perhaps also dreaded, by his
countrymen; and while they lost sight of his
books, which they were unable to understand
or to read, they perpetuated for ages the renown
of his enchantments and wonderful deeds of
diablerie.

The other eminent Scot of this period was
one who has been commemorated under the
various names of Thomas Rymer or the Rhimer,
Thomas Learmont, and Thomas of Erceldoun,
the first name probably being in reference to his
poetical character, and the last to his residence
in the village of Erceldoun or Earlstou, near

Melrose, while Learmont was, it may be, his
patronymic. He appears to have lived during
the greater part of the thirteenth century ; and
his romance of Sir Tristram was so well known,
that it was quoted by Gottfried of Strasburg,
the German minstrel of this period, and Robert
de Brunne, the English poetical annalist, also a
writer of the thirteenth century. So cun-ent
also were his rhyming predictions, or at least
those attributed to him, that they were referred
to by a succession of old Scottish historians —
Fordun, Barbour, Winton, and Henry the
Minstrel — as the unquestionable utterances of
true prophetic inspiration. The romance of
Sir Tristram, after being long lost, was dis-
covered and published in the beginning of this
century under the editorship of Sir Walter
Scott. Although very complicated and artificial
in structure and obscure in style, this poem is
yet a wonderful production for the age, abound-
ing in poetical description expressed in vigorous

But it was his poetical prophecies that kept
Thoma.s's name alive. These floated throughout
the country, and continued to accumulate with
every great national event, until they were col-
lected and published in Latin and English at
Edinburgh in 1615. It was not wonderful,
indeed, that such credence should have been
attached to them, when we find Archbishop
Spottiswood, so late as the middle of the seven-
teenth centxiry, thus expressing his beUef in the
prophetic inspiration of the poet : " Whence or
how he had this knowledge can hardly \>e
affirmed ; but sure it is, that he did divine and
answer truly of many things to come." Even
yet, perhaps, the same amount of belief is still
to be found in many of the cottages of Scotland
that have never heard of the discovery of the
Auchinleck manuscript.

One instance of the prophetic powerof Thomas
given by Boece was no doubt a cherished tradi-
tion in Scotland. On the day before the sudden
death of Alexander III. the seer was asked by
the Earl of March what sort of weather would be
on the morrow ; who answered that before noon
it should blow the greatest wind that ever was
heard before in Scotland. When the morrow
came, and noon approached, there was neither
wind nor tempest, and the sky was silent and
cloudless. The earl then reproached him for
his prediction ; but all the answer he received
was, "Noon is not yet gone." Almost imme-
diately after a liasty messenger of evil tidings
arrived at the gate, who reported the death of
the king, and the manner in which it happened.
"This," said Thomas, " is the wind I foretold,
and that shall blow to the great calamity and
trouble of all Scotland."

PERIOD IV.

FEOM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER HI. TO THE DEATH OF
ROBEET BRUCE (a.d. 1286 to a.d. 1329).

CHAPTER L

THE INTERREGNUM FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER IK. TO THE CROWNING
OF BALIOL {1286-1292).

Interregnum — Troubles of Scotland on the death of Alexander III. — Plots of Edward I. to obtain possession
of the kingdom — Margaret of Norway affianced to his son — Edward's intrigues with Norway and Scotland
to obtain consent to the marriage — Conditions of the marriage ratified by Edward to the Scots — Mani-
festations of his ambitious designs on Scotland — Death of Margaret at Orkney — Competition for the crown
at her death — Edward claims the right of decision as superior lord of Scotland — His claim recognized by
the competitors — Meetings held for the decision — The ten pretenders and their claims — The choice
limited to John Baliol and Robert Bruce — The claims of BaUoI proclaimed superior — He is declared
King of Scotland by Edward I. as umpire — Humbling limitations annexed by Edward to Baliol's sove-
reignty.

Never yet had so heavy a calamity befallen
Scotland as the sudden death of Alexander III.
While the only heir to the throne was an infant
and a female, the land was filled with those
rivalries and dissensions which the energy of
the late sovereign had scarcely sufficed to hold
in check; and the English claims of superiority
had fallen into the hands of one who more than
othei-s was qualified to watch the turn of events,
a-s well as to strike a decisive blow when the
moment for action arrived. On recovering
from the stunning eflFects of their bereavement
the Scottish parliament assembled at Scone on
the 1 1th of AprO, 1 286, and appointed a regency
of six persons as guardians of the realm during
the infancy of their sovereign, Margaret of
Norway. These were William Fraaer, Bishop
of St. Andrews ; Duncan, Eai-1 of Fife ; and
Alexiinder Comyn, Earl of Buchau, for the
northern division of Scotland beyond the Firth
of Forth; while the country to the south of
that boundary was intrusted to Robert Wishart,
Bishop of Glasgow; John Comyn, Lord of Bad-
enoch; and James, the High Steward of Scot-
land.i

Even at this meeting of parliament a bitter
foretaste was given of the calamities that
awaited the kingdom from the rivalry of the
Bruce and Baliol factions, who put forward
their respective claims not only to the present
leadership of affaii-s, but to the royal succession

I Fordun, lib. xi. cap. 1.

also in the event of the death of Margaret. Of
these ambitious competitors the most active was
Robert Bruce, father of the Eail of Carrick,
who claimed through his descent from David,
Earl of Huntingdon, the brother of William
the Lion ; and to make his pretensions good in
a trial where force could only decide he was
backed by the powerful Enghsh Earls of Glou-
cester and Ulster, who were his kinsmen by
man-iage, as well as by the Scottish Earls of
Menteith and Dunbar, the High Steward of
Scotland, the family of Donald, Lord of the
Isles, and the lords and barons of his own
powerful house. Of these formidable magnates
a meeting took place at Turnberry Castle on
the 20th September (1286) to support the claims
of the Bruce, as if the rights of Margai-et had
been ah-eady a nidlity; and there they bound
themselves in a mutual covenant against all
who should oppose them, saving their allegiance
to the King of England, and him on whom the
crown of Scotland might afterwards devolve by
right of descent. As might be expected, the
faction of the Comyns took the alarm at this
league and banded themselves in opposition, the
result of which was a civil war of skirmishes
that extended over the greater part of the king-
dom during the two yeara that succeeded the
death of the late king. The regency was un-
able to tranquillize the dissension of two such
rival powers; for of the six pereons that had
originally composed it the Earl of Fife was
assassinated in 1288, the Earl of Buchan died

A.D. 128&-1292.]

about the same time, and the High Steward
was wholly in favour of the Bruces. Nor
could Norway, although so deeply interested in
such a contest, interpose with effect ; for Eric
its king was as yet but a youth of eighteen,
while his daughter was only three years old.
All that he could do was to keep the royal
infant safe in his own custody instead of intrust-
ing her to such guardianship as that of the
Scottish nobles, and to wait the chance of
events, or until the storm had exhausted its
violence.

But a more powerful umpire than Eric had
also been on the watch. Edward I., although
employed in France, was not inattentive to the
state of affairs in Scotland ; and he must have
been aware that the existing rivalries woidd in
the end render his mediation necessary. Even
the contest of the different parties, by which
they were mutually weakening each other, would
prepare the way for making Scotland his own by
marrying his son Edward to the infant Scottish
queen. He therefore continued his French cam-
paign uninterrupted until his interposition in
Scottish affaira was formally entreated; and this
was done not only by the King of Noi-way, who
was solicitous about his daughter's inheritance,
but iilso by the Scottish estates, who sent to
him an embassy to that effect. Having settled
his affairs in France, he therefore returned to
England and addressed himself to a more sub-
stantial acquisition than that of continental
conquests. On receiving the Scottish message
we are told, he exclaimed exultingly to his
counselloi-s, " The fit time has come at last to
reduce Scotland and its kinglings under my
iiile."'

After this betrayal of his cherished purpose
Edw.ird prepared to treat with the Norwegian
and Scottish commissionei's, and this he did
with such a show of moderation that neither of
the parties suspected his designs. The place
of meeting was Salisbury, and thither he sent
as his commissioners the Bishojis of Worcester
and Durham and the Earls of Pembroke and
Warrenne. The fiist article of the treaty here
arranged, which had for its object the establish-
ment of the young queen upon the throne of
Scotland, w:is from the Norwegian deputation,
who promised that Margaret, free fi'om all
matrimonial engagements, sliould be conveyed
immediately either to England or lier own ter-
ritories. On the part of England it was then
]>romised that if Edward received the young
queen thus free, he would on demand deliver
her equally free to Scotland, prmidod that good
order should be previously established there, so

I Fordun, L zi. c. 3.

THE INTERREGNUM.

167

that she could reside in the kingdom with
safety; and provided also that the Scots should
give security to the King of England not to
bestow her in marriage without his ordinance,
will, and advice, and the assent of Eric her
father. Interpreted by after events, this pro-
mise of Edwaid was only worth as much or
as little as he was pleased to assign to it. At
what time would he discover that this "good
order" was established in Scotland, more espe-
cially if he found it his interest to disturb it?
In this way he might constitute himself per-
petual guardian of the queen, and keep her for
life within the safe precincts of Windsor Castle.
The Norwegian and English parties having
thus pledged themselves, it was now the turn
of the Scots, who delivered on the part of their
nation the following promises : 1. That previous
to their queen's arrival they would establish
good order in Scotland, and that they would
grant full security for her coming there with
safety and residing there in all freedom; 2.
That they would remove any of the guardians
or ministers of Scotland whom the King of
Norway should reckon unfit for theii- offices or
liable to suspicion, and place persons of the best
rank and character in their room, by the deter-
mination of the good men of Norway and Scot-
land; and if they differed in their choice, by
the arbitration of the commissioners whom
Edward might appoint. Of these terms of
agreement three copies were made ; one, which
was in Latin, was sent to the King of Norway,
and the others, which were in Norman-French —
now the state language of the Scottish as well
as the English nobility — were retained for the
use of the two nations.

During the negotiation no mention had been
made of the projected m.uriage of the Queen
of Scots to the son of the Enghsh king. But
Edward, who had indiiectly secured so many
advantages by the treaty, had already made
airangements for the matrimonial union I>y
which these advantages were to be turneil to
account. His first task was to procure a papal
dispensation for the marriage, the parties being
within the prohibited degiees, for Prince Edwaid
was cousin-german to the mother of the bride;
and accordingly the English king had already
obtained the full consent of Pope Nicholas IV.
by inducements which the pontiff could not well
reject. It was represented that if Margaret
married any other husband dissensions might
arise between the kingdoms of England and
Scotland, and that Edwai-d would thereby be
prevented from undertaking the Crusade which
he had promised. The dispeus;ition accordingly
had arrived from Rome even before the meet-
ing of Salisbury. His next step was to obtain

168

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1292.

the consent of the Scots, and although we have
no account of the negotiations with Edward to
that effect, we know that they were successful.
The report of the coming marriage arose in
Scotland iu the form of a populaj- rumour ; and
the favour with which it was regarded was an-
nounced iu a letter addressed to King Edward
from the Scottish estates assembled at Brigham,
a village on the Tweed near Roxburgh. " We
rejoice," they s;dd, "to hear the general report
that your highness has procured a dispensation
from the Apostle ' for the marriage of your son,
Prince Edward, with our sovereign lady. We
beseech your highness to inform us whether
the report be true ; if it is, we on our part
heartily consent to the alliance, not doubting
that you will agree to such reasonable condi-
tions as we shall propose to your pai-liament."
This letter, which was written in the name
of the four regents of Scotland, ten bishops,
twenty-thi-ee abbots, eleven priors, twelve earls,
including Robert Bruce Earl of Carrick, and
forty-eight barons, including Robert Bruce
Lord of Annandale, shows the earnestness of
the Scottish clergy and nobility either to ob-
tain peace for theu- country or to propitiate the
favour of such a powerful kiug as Edward. Not
content with this, they at the same time sent
an address to the King of Norway announcing
their consent to the marriage, and requesting
him to send Margaret to Scotland before the
feast of All-Saints, according to the treaty of
Salisbury. " If you should fail," they added,
" in granting oiu' request, we must in this ex-
tremity follow the best counsel which God may
give us for the state of the kingdom and its
inhabitants." 2

Nothing was now required but the consent of
Eric, which, however, was not to be so easily
won. To intrust his helpless child, the object of
so much political intrigue, to such a guardian as
the King of England, or such subjects as these
Scottish nobles were likely to prove, was no
safe or trivi;il experiment, and therefore he de-
murred to the proposal. But Edwaid was too
powerful a kiug, and too cunning a politician,
to be thus arrested in his purpose. Accordingly,
in the summer of the following year (1290), he
not only repeated his urgent request for the ar-
rival of the princess from Norway, but sent to its
court Anthony Beck, Bishop of Durham, a soldier
and diplomatist after his own heart, to overcome
Eric's reluctance. The prelate went wisely to
work, and with golden ai'gumeuts, which, since
the suppression of the piratical trade of the

1 This title w-is usually given to the popes, and what
effect it inip;irted to their dispensations ni.-iy be easily
surmised.

' Kynier's Fwiera, ii. p. 473.

kingdom, were now of double force in Norway.
He distributed large sums of money to the chief
counsellors, which, under the delicate name of
pensions, were to be annually continued until
Margaret should have reached the age of fifteen;^
and as each head had its price as distinctly
marked as if it had been ticketed by the mer-
chant, his difficulties were soon got over, and
consent to the mai'riage obtained in a full Nor-
wegian Storthing. So confident, indeed, was
Edward in the efficacy of the means, that when
the Scots, who were ignorant of his proceedings,
became clamorous at the delay, he bound him-
self in a penalty of 3000 merks, to be paid to the
Scottish guardians, that Margaret should either
be landed in Britain or delivered to his com-
missioners in Norway for the purpose before
the 1st of November. Fortunately for him this
royal obligation, so like a modern wager, did
not need to be proclaimed a forfeit, as the
princess set sail before the period. All parties
being thus reconciled and at one, the only task
that remained was to di-aw up such articles for
the marriage as would be compatible with the
rights and independence of the two kingdoms
of Scotland and England ; and for this pui'pose
a great national meeting was convened at
Brigham on the 18th of July, 1290. It was
attended not only by the guardians, clergy,
earls, and barons of Scotland, but the repre-
sentatives of the Scottish community at large;
while, on the pait of England, appeared the
Bishop of Durham and five other dignitai'ies.
The articles which the English proposed and
the Scots accepted are worthy of consideration,
not only as illustrative of the extreme jealousy
of the latter in preserving their national in-
dependence, but as showing more clearly the
merits of the war into which they were after-
wards compelled to enter. In the event of the
marriage it was agreed —

I. That the rights, laws, liberties, and customs
of Scotland shoidd remain for ever entire and
inviolable throughout the whole realm and its
marches — saving always the right of the King
of England and of aU others, which, before the
date of this treaty, belonged to him or any of
them in the marches or elsewhere, or which
ought to belong to him or any of them in all
time coming. This saving clause, so honest in
its appearance, was afterwards distorted into
strange meaning under Edward's interpretation.

=* Forty pounds, divided among the whole, was the sum
for which the Norwegian counsellors sold their services on
this occasion, and this by their own express demand and
rating. .Such was the price of a northern court in those days
of cheap diplomacy, and such the straightforward mode in
which the bargain was struck. This iust:\noe will help to
illustrate the venality of the Scottish nobles in theii- sub-
sequent trafficking with Edward I.

A.D. 1286-1292.]

THE INTERREGNUM.

169

It formed the groundwork of those claims which
he afterwards brought forward for the sove-
reignty over Scotland under which the other
guarantees for its independence were nothing
but idle words.

II. Failing Margaret and Prince Edward or
either of them witliout issue, it was agreed that
the kingdom should return to the nearest heirs
to whom it ought of right to retm'n wholly,
freely, absolutely, and without any subjection;
so that thereby nothing should accrue or decrease
to the King of England, to his heirs, or to any
one else. If Mai-garet survived her husband she
was to be delivered to the Scottish nation free
from all matrimonial engagements. In the
meantime it was agreed, that immediately upon
the marriage she should be secured in such a
jointure suitable to her rank as would be satis-
factory to herself and her friends.

III. Of the kingdom of Scotland it was agreed
that it should remain separate and divided from
England, free in itself, and without subjection,
according to its right, boundaries, and marches,
as heretofore. The chapters of churches possess-
ing right of election were not to be compelled
to go out of Scotland for obtaining leave to elect,
for presenting persons elected, or for swearing
allegiance to the sovereign. No crown vassal
was to be compelled to go out of Scotland to
perform homage or fealty, or transact for his
relief. A similar provision was declared for
widows, oi-phans, and all othera pecidiarly en-
titled to the protection of the state. To receive
these homages a person was to be appointed in
Scotland to act by the authority of the queen
and her husband, a reservation being made in
those cases where homage ought to be per-
formed in presence of the sovereign. Fealty
having been once done, each man was to have
sasine of his land immediately by brief from
chancery. In thus providing for the individual
liberty of the subject it was also granted that
no native of Scotland should in any case,
whetlier of covenant made, or crime committed
in Scotland, be compelled to answer out of the
kingdom contrary to the laws and usage of the
country.

The other articles of this treaty, which had
reference mainly to the independence of the
Scots as a nation, were equally express and
conciliatory. The great seal of the kingdom,
which h.ul Vieen used since the death of Alex-
ander III., was to continue in use until the new
queen had taken the coronation oath, after
which a new great seal was to be made with
the arms accustomed, and with the name of the
sovereign of Scotland, exclusively of any other,
and to be delivered into the custody of tlie chan-
cellor for the time being; and this chancellor

VOL. I.

was to be a native of Scotland and resident also
within the kingdom. The same conditions were
also to apply to the chamberlains, clerk of the
rolls of chancery, justiciaries, and other officers
of the realm. Of the mere inanimate symbols
of national independence care was also taken,
so that all relics, charters, grants, and other
muniments connected with the royal dignity of
Scotland, were to be deposited in a safe place
within the kingdom, and in sure custoily under
the seals of the nobility and subject to their
inspection, uutU the queen should arrive and
have living issue. During the same interval,
also, no incumbrance, alienation, or obligation
was to be created in mattera respecting the royal
dignity of the kingdom ; no disparagement by
man-iage effected upon the heii-s of the nobility
who were wards of the crown; no parliament to
be held beyond the boundai-ies of Scotland in
matters respecting the kingdom, its marches,
and its inhabitants ; no tallage, aids, levies of
men, or extraoidinary exactions demanded fiom
it, or imposed upon its inhabitants, unless to
promote the common interests of the realm, or
in cases where the kings of Scotland had been
wont to demand them.^

Such was the treaty of Brigham. These con-
ditions, offered by a stronger power to a proud,
jealous, sensitive people, were guarded by all
the scnipulositj' which language could furnish,
as well as all the impressive sanctions which
the church could impart; and when the English
commissionei's who offered these terms, as well
as their king who ratified them, had sworn by
every oath to theu- observance, and committed
themselves to heavy spiritual and ecclesiastical
penalties for breach or non-fulfilment, the Scots
accepted them in the same good faith in which
they believed them to be tendered. Yet scarcely
had his signature dried upon the parchment,
when Edwaid adopted a line of conduct which
tended to nullify the whole treaty. His first
step was to appoint Anthony Beck, Bishop of
Durham, who had so ably signalized himself
in his negotiations with the court of Norway,
Lieutenant of Scotland in the name of Queen
Margaret and his son Edward. Decent pretexts
were needed to veil such a usurpation ; and
therefore, while the new governor's commission
announced that he was to act in concert with
the guardians, and by the advice of the prelates
and nobles of the realm, Edward pretended that
the obligation of his oath to maintain the laws
of Scotland made such an appointment neces-
sary. But the king well knew that even among
the four Scottish guardians the bishop would
be certain to have the preponderance, as two of

I Foedera, ii. p. 4S2, et teqticn.

170

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

their number were ab-eady in the Engbsb in-
terest. Edward's next step was of a still bolder
character: pretending to be alarmed by some
rumours of danger impending over Scotland, he
demanded that the fortresses of the kingdom
should be instantly committed to his custody.
The Scots were startled at the summons, and
sent through their ambassadore a decisive re-
fusal: they would retain their castles and for-
tresses in their own keeping untU the an-ival of
their queen and her intended husband, to whom
alone they would deliver them. To soften this
refusal, however, they took the oath of fidelity
to Margaret and Prince Edward as their future
joint-sovereigns, engaged to consent to no other
marriage for their queen, and offered to remove
those keepers of the fortresses whose fidelity
■was suspected, and appoint others in their room.
With these answers, from which the English
king must have discovered that he had been too
precipitate, he was obliged for the present to be
contented.

While these negotiations, so pregnant with
national quan-el and danger, were still in agita-
tion, the Maiden of Norway, as Margaret was
poetically called, had set sail for Scotland. We
are not told with what misgi'vings this child, as
yet only in her eighth year, was committed to
the hazards of the ocean, that she might rule
over a kingdom more stormy and uncertain stiU.
Upon so frail a tenure the hopes of the Scottish
nation were now embarked, and amidst these
ominous aggressions of Edward many must
have felt that her arrival was the country's only
hope of escape from a destructive war, and per-
haps from final vassalage. But an uutimely
death released Margaret from the woes that
in later times awaited Mary Stuart. On her
passage from Norway she was attacked by a
mortal disease, so that she had to be landed at
Orkney, and there she died towards the close of
September, a.d. 1290.

By the death of the Maiden of Norway the
Scottish throne was left not only without an
occupant, but without a recognized successor ;
and the two great competitors for its possession,
Robert Bruce Lord of Annandale, and John
Baliol Lord of GaUoway, had already prepared
themselves for the contest. The first to move
was Bruce, who, as soon as the mournful tidings
arrived, appeared at Perth with a formidable
array of his armed retainers; and, being joined
by the powerful earls of Mar and Athol, who
mustered their forces to support him, his chance
of success seemed aU but certain, as Baliol
was at present resident in England. But the
Lord of Galloway had an assured friend to
his interests in William Eraser, Bishop of St.
Andrews, and one of the regents of the kiug-

[a.d. 1286-1292.

dom, whose devotedness to his patron seems to
have obscured, or absolutely extinguished, that
sphit of patriotic independence for which tlie
Scottish clergy had hitherto been remarkable.
He wrote to the King of England, describing
the troubled state of the kingdom, and inviting
his dangerous interposition. He even advised
him to approach the Scottish borders for the
prevention of civil war and bloodshed, and for
the peaceful appointment of a successor to
Margaret, should the tidings of her death, as
yet uncertain, be confirmed. He was parti-
cularly careful to point out the person whom he
judged worthiest of the succession. "Should
John de Baliol," he wrote, " present himself
before you, my advice is that you treat with
him so that, in all events, your honour and
interest may be preserved." Again returning
at the close of his letter to the subject most at
heart, he thus counselled his royal correspon-
dent: "Should the queen die, which Heaven
forbid, I entreat that your highness may ap-
proach our borders, that the people of Scotland
may be comforted, and the eflfusion of blood
prevented; and that the faithful of the land
may be enabled to preserve their oath inviolate,
and to prefer him to be king who ought of right
to inherit, provided always that he is willing to
foUow your counsel." In this last qualification
who could fail to recognize the man of Edward's
subsequent choice ? The " faithful of the land"
were no doubt the adherents of Baliol and sup-
porters of the English interest ; but of the oath
to which the prelate alludes, the dark records
of the period have made no mention.

This advice, which was too shrewdly traitor-
ous to have been merely a random suggestion,
as some have charitably supposed, completely
coincided with Edward's crafty policy; and it
is probable that he would have speedily ad-
vanced upon the Scottish border but for the
sickness and death of Eleanor, his queen, whom
he loved with all the intensity of an ii-on heart
that was proof to every other kind of affection.
But the bereavement only made his ambition
more pitiless and insatiate, and he returned
with renewed ardour to his favourite project,
which was the reduction of the whole island
into a imited British empii'e. Even before the
death of Margaret he had assumed in writing
to his confidential supporters the title of Lord
Pai-amount of the kingdom of Scotland; and
after that event he had declared in a meeting
of his council that he meant to bring Scotland
under his rule in the same way that he had
subdued Wales. His firet step was to establish
his claim to the feudal sovereignty of the king-
dom ; and this could be best done by becoming
the umpire of the royal succession, and appoint-

„D. 1286-1292.]

THE INTEREEGNUM.

171

ing a king for Scotland who ■n-ould receive the
crown as his gift. The fact has been assumed
that, dismayed at tlie prospect of a civil war,
the nation at large chose Edward as the arbi-
trator, but of any such choice no evidence has
been adduced ; and in the absence of this we
are justified in suspecting that the invitation
came from the competitoi-s themselves and their
supporters. But even less than this would have
sufficed for such a king as Edward, and with
such an interest at stake. He ordered the
barons of Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Lanca-
shire, Cumberland, and Northumberland to
assemble at Norham with all their military re-
tainers on the 3d of June (1291 ) ; and the clergy
and nobility of Scotland, including John Baliol
and Eobert Bruce, to meet him at the same
place but at an earlier period, being the 10th
of May. By giving the Scots this priority of
meeting Edward avoided the appearance of an
armed intervention, which the divisions among
the Scottish nobles and the helplessness of the
people rendered unnecessary; and therefore he
repaired to it not with an army, but a train of
peaceful counsellors and attendants.

The proceedings of this momentous assembly
were commenced by an opening speech on the
part of Edward, which was delivered by Eoger
Brabazon, justiciary of England. The latter
stated the anxiety of his royal master at the
difficulties in which the death of Alexander III.
and his daughter had involved the Scottish
kingdom, and his good-will to the Scots collec-
tively and individually; " for in their defence,"
added the speaker, "he himself is interested."
He had therefore called the Scots together on
this occasion that justice might be done to the
competitoi-s for the crown and the peace of the
kingdom established ; he had also undertaken
a long journey that, as Superior and Lord Para-
mount of the kingdom of Scotland, he might in
pereon do justice to all. " Wherefore," added
the speaker, coming down upon his terrible con-
clusion which he had so cautiously preluded,
"our lord the king, for the due accomplishment
of this purpose, doth require your hearty recog-
nition of his title of Lord Paramount of the
kingdom of Scotland."

The whole assembly was thunderstruck; none,
even the most selfish or unpatriotic, had been
pre])ared for such a declaration, and the Scot-
tish nobles gazed at each other in silence. At
length a solitary voice ventured to exclaim,
" No answer can be given while the throne is
vacant." This interruption awoke the ire of
the King of England. "By holy Edward, whose
crown I wear," he cried, " I will vindicjite my
just rights or jierish iu the attempt !" Know-
ing that his army was mustering, the Scots

requested a delay that they might consult
among themselves, as well as advertise those
who were absent ; but Edward replied gruffly,
"You were all sufficiently informed by my sum-
mons, but I grant you a delay till to-morrow."
The morrow came, but only with a request for
further delay, which Edward granted for three
weeks, well knowing their inability to unite for
any common measure, and that at the end of this
time his forces would be assembled. Through
his intrigues in Scotland ten competitors were
aheady in the field, the representatives of as
many contending factions. On the nobles return-
ing home each was more solicitous for his own
pereoual interests or those of his favourite candi-
date than for the rights of the insulted kingdom
and its down-trodden people; and therefore,
after the interval had elapsed, all were ready to
appear before the foreign tribunal and submit
their cause to the decision of the English king.
On the 2d of June this meeting was held, not,
however, at Norham, as before, but in an open
field called Holywell Haugh, near Upsettling-
ton, and opposite Norham Castle, but within
the Scottish boundary. This change of place
had been ordered by Edward during the inter-
val with the politic design of giving the meeting
a fi'ee and national character. Eight competi-
tors presented themselves on the occasion, viz.
Eobert Bruce, Lord of Aunandale; Florence,
Coimt of Holland ; John Hastings, Lord of
Abergavenny; Patiick Dunbar, Earl of ^larch;
William de Eoss, William de Vesci, Eobert de
Pyukeny, and Nicholas de Soiilis. The proceed-
ings were resumed at the point where they had
broken oif at the meeting of Norham ; and the
speaker on this occasion was Eobert Burael,
Bishop of Bath and Wells and Chancellor of
England. He stated that the English kings
were Lords Paramount of Scotland because
they had either enjoyed or claimed that right
from the earliest ages; and that King Edward,
although he was open to inquiry and conviction,
and had required the Scots to produce their
counter-evidence against his claims, had re-
mained unanswered. As they had produced no-
thing in rejily the king was therefore resolved to
act as Lord Paramount, and decide the succession
to the Scottish crown. Tlien turning to Eobert
Bruce, the bishop asked him, "Do you acknow-
ledge Edward as Lord Paramount of Scotland,
and are you willing to act and receive judgment
from him in that character?" "Definitively,
distinctly, publicly, and openly," as the instru-
ment declares, Bruce announced his assent. The
same question was put to the other comjietitors
successively, and they all gave the same reply.
Sir Thom:is Eandolph then stated that John
Baliol, Lord of Galloway, who was not present,

172

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1292.

had mistaken the day of meeting ; and he re-
quested that this nobleman should be admitted
on the following day, that he might give his
answer in person. The delay was gi-auted, and
on the 3d of June Baliol appeared, and after
some coy demur assented like the rest. Having
thus inclosed the competitore within his net,
the chancellor-bishop declared in his master's
name that although Edward at present asserted
his right of superiority for the purpose of pro-
nouncing judgment in the competition, he did
not purpose to relinquish his right of property
in the kingdom of Scotland, but would reserve
ills claim to that right in whatever time and
manner he judged most convenient. In this
way he declared Scotland to be a male fief, so
that as all the competitoi-s claimed by the female
line, the pereon elected could only reign by his
sufferance and might be deposed at his pleasure.
Edward himself then harangued the assembly.
After reviewing its proceedings and confirming
the declarations that had been made by his
chancellor, he talked of his affection for the
Scottish nation and the toils he had undergone
and would still be ready to undergo to bring its
affairs to a happy issue. He promised also that
he would give a prompt and impartial judgment
in the pending competition, and secure for the
kingdom the administration of its laws and
customs, the redress of abuses, and the estab-
lishment of national tranquLUity. Then, invok-
ing the divine aid, and expressing his hope that
the whole affau- would be conducted to the
glory of God, he ended by once more expressing
his determination to keep hLs claim to the pro-
perty of Scotland as its feudal superior entire
and complete.

The Scottish competitora were now as com-
pliant as Edwai-d himself could have desired ;
they were ready with their homage to this for-
midable superior who claimed it as his right
and had power to enforce it. Baliol was the
fii'st to succumb by acknowledging Edward as
his lord and craving his judgment ; and he was
followed by John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch,
one of the Scottish regents, who made the same
recognition and presented his claims as a com-
petitor. The ten candidates subscribed an in-
strument acknowledging the right of Edward
to decide in the competition, and submitting
themselves to his award ; and on the following
day (June 4th) they agreed to give Edward
entire possession of Scotland and its places of
strength, because, as they declared, " judgment
cannot be without execution, nor execution
without possessing the subject to be awarded."
This possession, however, was only to continue
for two months, and with full security of resti-
tution, while the revenues of the kingdom were

to remain untouched except the allowauce for
the expenses of government. It was also unani-
mously agreed by the whole assembly that
Baliol and Comyn, for themselves and their ad-
herents, should nominate forty commissionei-s,
and Bruce in like manner as many, to which
Edwai'd should add twenty-four, or more or
fewer, to consider the claims of the competitoi-s
and make their report to the king. On the
11th of June the Scottish regents solemnly re-
signed the kingdom into Edward's hands, and
the keepers of the castles in like manner sur-
rendered their trust. Amidst this universal
national degradation only one bright example
of manly independence was afforded ; this was
by Gilbert de UmfraviUe, Earl of Angus, who
held the castles of Dundee and Forfar. On
being requii-ed to deliver up his chai'ge he re-
fused, declaring that he had received the keep-
ing of these castles from the National Estates,
and would not surrender them to England un-
less Edward and all the competitoi-s joined to
exonerate him from blame. A letter of indem-
nity was accordingly drawn up by the regents
and competitors which Edward was wOhng to
receive ; and it was only then that the gallant
patriot consented to resign his trust into Eng-
lish hands. Thus fai* unopposed and successful,
Edward proceeded to act as the lawful and
recognized King of Scotland. He restored to
the regents the custody of the kingdom which
they had so abjectly smrendered ; but to keep
them in the right way he gave them Allan,
Bishop of Caithness, an Englishman, for their
chancellor, and Walter Agmondesham, another
Euglishman, for his colleague. He also added
to the regency a fifth member in Brian Fitz-
allan, an English baron. He was likewise care-
ful to state that, although this meeting had
been held by his consent in Scotland, the ex-
ample should not debar him from pronouncing
judgment in England whenever a similar case
should happen. He also ordered that no Scot-
tish breves should be excepted against or re-
jected by the King's Bench in London, " be-
cause," said the declaration, "the two kingdoms
are now joined on account of the superiority
over Scotland which the King of England
enjoys." Thus early did he consider the union
of the two kingdoms as complete and indis-
soluble, with himself for their sole king and
master. These proceedings were completed by
the 13th of Jidy; and as nothing remained ex-
cept to try the claims of the candidates and
pronounce his award, Edwai'd ap]iointed the 2d
of August for that purpose, with the town of
Berwick as the place of meeting. During the
short interval he was eager to improve his ad-
vantages by receiving the homage of the people,

A.D. 1286-1292.]

THE INTERREGNUM.

173

who were universally required to swear alle-
giance ; and for tliis purpose he made a tour
through the princi]5al cities of Scotland, and
exacted the oaths of fealty, not only fi-om the
earls and barons, but also from the burgesses
and commons. Even into those parts of the
country whicli he did not visit he sent commis-
sioners to demand the oaths of the people, and
compel them, if need should be, by imprison-
ment, to acknowledge themselves vassals of the
King of England. He also surveyed with a
critical eye the strength and military resources
of the kingdom, so that in the event of any
popuhu- reaction he might know at once the
danger and the remedy.

On the 2d of August the great assize was
assembled at Berwick, and on the 3d the can-
didates presented their claims before the 104
commissioners selected by the Bruce and Baliol
parties, and by the King of England, who were
assembled in the church of the Dominicans. The
competitors had now increased to thirteen,
chiefly through the intrigues of Edward, who
by this increase had sought to magnify the im-
portance of his arbitration, and deepen the
submission of the applicants. A short glance
at the names of these claimants and the giound
of their expectations is necessary for a more
perfect understanding of this dark and disas-
trous portion of Scottish history. Of these
there were —

1. Florence, Count of Holland, who competed
as great-gi-andson of Ada, sister of William the
Lion.

2. Robert de Pynkeny, great-grandson of
Marjory, another sister of William the Lion.

3. Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, who
claimed as grandson of Ada, illegitimate daughter
of William the Lion.

4. William de Ross, who claimed as great-
gi-andson of Isabella, illegitimate daughter of
William the Lion.

5. William de Vesey, grandson of Marjory,
another illegitimate daughter of William.

6. Patrick Galythly, whose father Henry, he
asserted, was the lawfully begotten son of Wil-
liam tlie Lion. But this claim, which would
have settled the comiietition at once, could not
be proved, and therefore he was classed among
the other illegitimate scions of roy:ilty.

7. Nicholas de Soulis, who claimed as the
descendant of Marjory, illegitimate daugliter of
Alexander II. As has already been mentioned
in the course of this history, Alan Durwanl, the
husband of Marjory, endeavoured, but unlaw-
fully, to procure her legitimization, in the hope
that his posterity might succeed to the crown.

8. Roger de Mandeville. This was a new
claimnut, a descendant of Aurica, whom he en-

deavoured to prove a lawfully begotten daughter
of William the Lion ; but his tale for this
purpose was too romantic even for that age of
romance, although he appealed to the legends
of Scotland, England, and Ireland in testimony
of the fact.

9. John C'omjTi, Lord of Badenoch, and one
of the regents of Scotland, known in our his-
tory as the " Black Comyn," to distinguish him
from the younger John, who was called the
" Red." He claimed as the fifth in descent from
Donald Bane, brother of Malcolm Canmore.
But his chiim, even allowing the correctness of
the pedigree which he produced on the occasion,
could only be established upon the fact of his
ancestor having been the lawful king of Scot-
land and all the successors of Canmore usurpers.

10. Eric, King of Norway. He also was a
new candidate in the competition, and he claimed
as heir to his infant daughter Margai'et. But
this claim, however, good in a question of per-
sonal property, was not enough to win a king-
dom ; and of this it is evident he was aware by
the lateness of his application and the readiness
with which he renounced it. His competition,
indeed, seems to have been only put fon\'ard to
strengthen certain money demands which he
made upon the kingdom of Scotland, and that
were still more extravagant than his claim to
the crown itself. He required that the revenues
of the country which had been due during his
daughter's lifetime should be given over to him-
self as her administrator, and that the nation
should pay him £100,000 sterling (!) for not re-
ceiving their queen — who had died before she
reached them. At length, however, he cou-
teuted himself with 200 merks per annum,
which he demanded as the debt still owing to
him in the portion of his wife Margaret, daughter
of Alexander III., which had been imperfectly
paid ; and this being allowed, he vanished from
Scottish history.

Of these ten claimants the pretensions were
weak and inadmissible, being founded upon
remote, uncertain, or illegitimate descent ; but
they served for the moment to embroil the con-
trovei-sy and heighten its interest. But of the
other three candidates no such declaration could
be made, as they were the descendants and re-
presentatives of David, Earl of Huntingdon,
brother of William tlie Lion, and whose progeny
had therefore an indisputable claim on the ex-
tinction of the family of William. It unfor-
tunately liai)i)ened, liowever, that these can-
didates were three in number; and not only
were their chiinis so nicely balanced that it was
diflScult to adjust them, but backed with such
power and influence as would have filled the
whole kingdom with commotion and civil war.

174

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

These were John Baliol, Eobert Bruce, and John
Hastings.

It was not, however, at this stage of the pro-
ceedings that Edward meant to decide. A delay
would tame the expectants into full subservi-
ence, and vindicate his own claim as Lord
Pai-amount of Scotland, and therefore he ad-
journed the final trial to the 2d of June in the
following yeai\ Before that time arrived the
unfortunate ten, who seem to have been led
into the arena either by fallacious promises or
against their own choice, had become conscious
of the weakness of their claims, and had with-
drawn them, thus leaving an open field for
Baliol, Bruce, and Hastings.

Into the particulars of this long and impor-
tant but tedious trial, which was adjourned to
the 15th of October, and afterwards to the 17th
of November, we do not propose to enter. It
was sufticiently characterized by the mean sub-
serviency of the eighty Scottish commissioners,
who in questions touching the laws of their own
country about succession, pleaded their ignor-
ance, and bowed before the superior knowledge
of the judges from England. In this confession,
indeed, they scarcely erred, when it was made
before the tribunal of the English Justinian.
David of Himtingdon, whose son John died with-
out issue, had also left three daughters, of whom
the eldest, Margaret, was married to Alan of
Galloway; Isabella, the second, to Eobert Bruce;
and Ada, the third, to Henry Hastings. Now
Bruce was the son of the second daughter, and
Baliol the grandson of the first, by his mother,
the daughter of Maigaret. Between these two
claimants, thei-efore, the controversy chiefly lay,
and the question at issue was, whether the claim
of Baliol as the representative of the senior
branch, was not vitiated by the intervention of
a female representative. After learned and long
and keen discussion the whole was summed up
in the following query of the King. of England
to the judges: "By the laws and usages of both
kingdoms does the issue of the eldest sister,
though more remote in one degi-ee, exclude the
issue of the second sister, though neai-er in one
degree ; or ought the nearer in one degree,
issuing from the second sister to exclude the
more remote in one degi'ee issuing from the
eldest sister?" To this the commissioners and
the whole parliament unanimously answered,
that " by the laws and usages of both kingdoms
in every heritable succession, the more remote
in one degi'ee, lineally descended from the eldest
sister, was preferable to the neai'er in degree
issuing from the second sister."

As the deliberations at this stage were aus-
picious to the claim of Baliol, Bruce and Has-
tings took the alai'm, more especially as Edward

[a.d. 1286-1292.

had declared that Bruce should take nothing in
the competition with Baliol. At an earlier
period it had been asked, whether Scotland, as
a kingdom to be inherited, was entire and in-
separable, or might be divided into portions;
and to this the Lord of Annandale, tmsting in
the fancied superiority of his descent over that
of his rival, and hoping to obtain all, had replied
that Scotland was indivisible. But now, when
he saw that this chance had escaped, he resolved
to secure at least a part. Forgetting, therefore,
his former concession, he now insisted that Scot-
land was a divisible inheritance ; that as such,
he was entitled to one-third of the kingdom ;
and that in return for this he was willing to
acknowledge the right of Baliol to the title of
king and the royal dignity on account of his
descent from the eldest sister. The same claim
in his own behalf was made by John Hastings
on account of his descent from the youngest
sister. In this way these three ambitious com-
petitore would have pai-ted the kingdom to its
ruin for the paltry distinction of ruling as a
feudal prince over a stripe of barren territory.
But this division did not suit Edward, who had
resolved to secure for himself even more than
the lion's share. He therefore put the two fol-
lowing questions to the commissioners and par-
liament : Is the kingdom of Scotland divisible?
If it is not divisible, are its revenues divisible?
They answered in one voice that the kingdom
was indivisible, and that its revenues, if once
in the hand of the sovereign, were indivisible
also. Edward therefore decreed that neither
John Hastings nor Eobert Bruce shoiild take
anything in the competition, as Scotland was
indivisible like other kingdoms.

The closing scene of this terrible trial, in
which a kingdom and its people, like a few
paltry acres and the cattle that grazed upon it,
were to be transferred by the chicanery of law
and the imperious sentence of a selfish in-
terested judge to a new possessor, who de-
manded them as his right, was made on the
17th of November, 1292. Throughout the trial
the show of justice had been retained with the
utmost scrupulosity, for it was but too much
needed to veil an enormity of fraud that coidd
not endure the light. The final and conclusive
sentence, although it announced a decision which
had probably been adopted eighteen months
eai-lier, when the court was first opened, must
have been heai'd with mingled feelings of awe
and disappointment and deep misgivings for the
futm-e. "As it is admitted," said the royal
judge, "that the kingdom of Scotland is in-
divisible, and as the King of England must
judge of the rights of his subjects according to
the laws and usages of the kingdoms over wliich

A.D. 1292-1296.]

REIGN OF JOHN BALIOL.

175

he reigns; and as by the laws and usages of
England and Scotland in the succession to in-
divisible heritage, the more remote in degree
of the first line of descent is preferable to the
nearer in degree of the second; — therefore it is
decreed that John Baliol shall have sasine of
the kingdom of Scotland."

In this way did John Baliol become sovereign
of the country — but a servant-sovereign, with
an imjierious master over him. And of this fact
he was not for a moment allowed to remain in
doubt, for the same breath that announced his
kingship, also proclaimed his vassalage. When
the decree was ended Edward was careful to
repeat the declaration he had formerly uttered,
that this decision should not in any way impair
his own claim to the propei-ty of Scotland. He
then read Baliol a lecture upon his royal duties,
charging him to act justly towards his people,
and threatening to interpose as Lord Pai-amount
in case of neglect. It was a painful foretaste
of the uneasiness which a crown inflicts upon
the head that wears it, and a humbling prepara-
tive for the indignities that were sure to follow.
Two days after Edward ordered the five Scot-
tish regents to resign the government of the
kingdom into Baliol's hands, and he surrendered

the castles that had been intrusted to his keep-
ing; but a.s if to convert this act into an indig-
nity, by showing that he needed no such gua-
rantee for their submission, he, in presence of
the new king and Scottish nobles, broke the
great seal of the kingdom which had been used
since the death of Alexander III., and sent the
fragments to be laid up in his royal treasury in
England, " in testimony to future ages of his
right of superiority over Scotland." On the
following day Baliol swore fealty to Edward at
Norham, and ten days after (on the 30th of
November, 1292) he was crowned at Scone.
Even in the ceremonial of his coronation the
ominous shadow of the King of England seemed
to be present, to cloud its otherwise diminished
lustre; for he was placed upon the royal and
prophetic chair not by the Earl of Fife, to whom
the office hereditarily pertained, but by John
de St. John, whom Edward appointed for the
purpose, the young Macduff being at present a
minor. After Baliol was crowned his first ob-
ligation was to repeat as king the submission
which he had rendered as a baron, and accord-
ingly, on the 26th of December, he did homage
to Edward at Newcastle in his royal capacity,
and for the kingdom of Scotland.

CH^\PTER II.

REIGN OF JOHN BALIOL (1292-1296).

Reign of John Baliol — Commencement of its troubles — Appeals to English tribunals against the decisions of
Scottish courts — Edward I. justifies this usurpation — Baliol cited to appear in England against an appeal
of one of his subjects — He is obliged to comply — He refuses submission to the award of the English
parliament — Despotic conduct of Edward towards the King of Scotland — The Scots form an alliance with
Franco against England — War commences between Scotland and England — Unsuccessful invasion of
England by the Scots — Edward invades Scotland — He takes Berwick by storm — Baliol renounces his alle-
giance to Edward — Defeat of the Scots at Dunbar — Bruce's hopes of succession to the Scottish crown
destroyed by Edward— Baliol's humble submission and deposition — The Scots compelled to receive Edward
as their sovereign — His arrangements for the government of Scotland — Commencement of Scottish
resistance to his rule.

At tlie mature age of forty-three John Baliol
ascended his precarious throne. Scarcely had
he been seated when the troubles of his position
commenced by appe;ds of the discontented from
tlie decisions of the Scottish tribunals to the
sujicrior authority of England. Security, in-
deed, had been promised against such license
by an article in the treaty of Brigham, in which
it was iledared that no Scottish subject should
be compelled to answer in any suit, whether civil
or criminal, beyond the bounds of the kingdom.
Regardless of this Roger Bartholomew, a citizen
of Berwick, whose case had been tried and de-

cided by the regents d\iring the interregnum,
apjiealed from their verdict to the decision of
the King of England. Baliol opposed this trans-
ference as a violation of the treaty, of which he
reminded Edward ; but to the Scottish king's
protest, the latter replied that he had scrupu-
lously observed his promise, but that tlie hear-
ing of complaints against the ministei-s of his
own appointing belonged to himself, and was
not to be interfered with by his subjects. He
then summoned Baliol, and the Scottish prelates
anil nobles who attended him into his j>rivy
chamber, and there declared to them in expi-ess

176

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

terms the manner in which he purposed to exer-
cise his sovereignty over Scotland. He had been
induced, he said, to make these promises during
the interregnum; but now that the Scots had a
king, these promises were binding no longer.
He tlierefore considered liimself at liberty to
judge in every cause that was regularly brought
before him from Scotland ; he would hear them
in England, and decide upon them as Lord
Paramount ; and should it be necessary in such
cases he would summon the King of Scotland
himself to appeal- in his presence. To show,
also, that these wei-e no hasty and idle threats,
Edward reduced them into a formal instrument,
in which he renounced as Lord Paramount
every engagement and promise contained in the
treaty of Brigham. This interview, so humbling
to Baliol, occurred at Newcastle on the 31st of
December, 1292, only five days after he had
done homage to Edward for his kingdoms; and
although there was such manifest perjury in
this summary renunciation, he was obliged to
heai- and submit in silence. After this final
confirmation of his authority, and when resis-
tance was no longer to be feared, Edward re-
stored to the chamberlain of Scotland the na-
tional documents, records, and accounts that
had been forwarded from Edinburgh to Rox-
burgh, and granted possession to Baliol of the
Isle of Man in like manner as it had been held
by Alexander III., reserving, however, his own
rights as feudal superior and the rights of all
others.

The threat held out of summoning Baliol be-
fore an English tribunal, as often as an appeal
on the part of his subjects should make his per-
sonal appearance necessary, was not an empty
menace ; and a case of this kind occurred only
a few weeks after the bitter interview at New-
castle. The causes were the following: — Duncan,
Earl of Fife, having died in 1288, had left a son,
a minor, under the guardianship of the Bishop
of St. Andrews. But the lands of Reres and
Crey, whicli pertained to the earldom, had been
seized by Macduff, gi-and-uncle of the minor,
under the allegation that these had been be-
queathed to him as his patrimonial inheritance.
Such, however, did not appear manifest to
William, Bishop of St. Andrews, who dis-
possessed Macduff in favour of his ward, whom
he considex-ed the rightfid heir of the lands in
question. As this occurred during the inter-
regnum, Edward, to whom Macdutf appealed,
had referred him to the regents, who, after trial
of the cause, sustained his claim and replaced
him in possession. Here, however, a question
involving the rightful occupation of so much
property was not allowed to rest; and at the
first parliament held under the new reign.

[a.d. 1292-1296.

which met at Scone on the 10th of February,
Macduff was required to answer for taking pos-
session of lands which, being the projjerty of a
minor, were under royal custody. Macduff might
have referred to the verdict of the regents ; but
he preferred to rest his case upon the argument
of rightful and confirmed inheritance, which,
however, he faded to make out to the satisfac-
tion of his judges, and by them he was com-
mitted to prison as guilty of trespass. After
his imprisonment, which was a brief one, had
ended, he petitioned Baliol for a renewal of the
trial ; but on this being refused, he appealed to
Edward as superior judge.

So choice an opportunity of giving a practical
lesson on obedience to the King of Scots was
not likely to be neglected by Edward, and he
summoned Baliol to appear before him on the
25th of March to answer the complaint of Mac-
duff in person. But Baliol did not obey. He
was again summoned to make his appearance
by the 14th of October ; and still further to
aggravate the demand, or subdue him into utter
submission, Edward in the interval caused his
parliament to pass several ordere by which the
King of Scots might at pleasure be made to
appear personally in England at whatever ap-
peal of any of his subjects. " No excuse of
absence," said one of these regulations, " shall
be ever received either from the appellant or
the King of Scots, respondent." Baliol was
now obliged to comply, and he appeared before
the English pai'liament that was held after
Michaelmas, his own subject, Macduff, being
also present as his accuser. On being asked
for his defence, Baliol replied boldly and briefly,
" I am King of Scotland ; to the complaint of
Macduff, or to aiy other matters regarding my
kingdom, I dare not give answer without the
advice of my people." " What means this re-
fusal?" cried Edward; "you are my liegeman,
you have done homage to me, you ai-e present
in consequence of my summons." " In matters
that pertain to my kingdom I dare not and I
cannot answer in this place without the advice
of my people," replied Baliol. These were bold
answere — the coui-age of despair. Feeling that
he had been more urgent than prudent, Edward
artful!)- proposed that Baliol should desire an
adjournment for the purpose of taking counsel
with the nation ; but Baliol, aware that every
future demand upon his personal appearance
would be sanctioned by such a precedent if he
yielded in the present case, replied firmly that
he would neither ask a longer day nor consent
to an adjournment. In consequence of his re-
fusal the English parliament resolved that this
Ciise was still before theii- king; that Baliol
should be held to have offered no defence; and

A.D. 1292-1296.]

REIGN OF JOHN BALIOL.

177

that his answers were derogatory to the autho-
rity of his liege lord and a manifest contempt
of the court. They further decreed that Mac-
dufi' should have damages, to be assessed by
this court, from the King of Scots, for his im-
prisonment; and that the inquiry should be
held anew as to whether he had been lawfully
dispossessed of his property. As every one also
ought to be punished in that which emboldens
him to otJend, they resolved that the three
principal castles of Scotland, with their towns,
should be taken into the custody of the King
of England until the King of Scots had made
satisfaction for his contempt and disobedience.
But before these hard conclusions could be
officially announced Baliol interposed. " My
lord," he said, addressing Edward, " I am your
liegeman for the kingdom of Scotland ; and as
that of which you have lately treated concerns
my people no less than myself, I therefore en-
treat you to delay judgment until I have con-
sulted my people, lest I be surprised through
want of counsel. They who are now with me
neither will nor dare advise me in the absence
of the rest of my kingdom. After having ad-
vised with them I will report the result in your
first parliament held after Easter, and perform
what I ought to do." With this request it suited
Edward to comply, for the resolutions of the
parliament were too violent, and the occupation
of the three Scottish castles could not be accom-
plished without the commencement of open
war. It was therefore resolved that the final
judgment should be delayed until the day after
the feast of the Trinity in the foUowing year.

This delay was of importance to Baliol and
his kingdom, for such at this time ■nere the
relations of England with the Continent that
at any day or hour Edward might be summoned
to a French invasion, and compelled to stake
his life upon the hazard. And one of these
contingencies si)eedily arrived. At or near the
port of Bayonne some Engli-sh and Norman
sailore had assembled to fill their water-casks;
a quarrel arose about the right of priority, and
in tlie scurtie that ensued one of the Norman
sailors was killed. This led to wholesale repri-
Siils, and finally to a great navrd war in which
the fleets of Normandy, France, and Genoa were
combined against that of England, aided by the
ships of Gascony, Ireland, and Holland. To
punish Edward, who was his vass;d for the
dukedom of Aquitaine, Philip le Bel, the French
sovereign, sunnnoned the King of England to
answer pei-sonally in Paris for these outiages ;
and on Edward failing to appear as Duke of
Aquitaine before his French jieers, the duke-
dom was declared forfeited to the crown of
France. In this manner Edward was made to

feel that the feudal law was two-edged, and he
stood in the same relation to Philip that Baliol
stood to himself. But here the resemblance
ended, for he was neither so weak in character
nor resources as to sit down under the insult ;
whUe his parliament, which assembled at Lon-
don in May, 1294, entered heartUy into the
quarrel and agreed to assist him in the war.
At this meeting also Baliol appeared, and gave
evidence of his compliant spirit by yielding up
the whole revenues for three years of his rich
estates in England, to support the campaign
against France. It is probable from this won-
derful liberality that the Scottish king already
contemplated rebellion against his oppressive
taskmaster ; and that what he thus sun-endered
so readily was scarcely his own to give, on
account of the confiscation that was sure to
foUow of all his English possessions. Whatever
may ha%'e been the suspicions of Edwaixl to that
eflect he did not allow them to appeal", but still
continued to treat Baliol as a willing and sub-
servient vassal. Having therefore laid an em-
bargo on all ships within his English dominions,
he required the same to be laid upon the Scot-
tish ports, and to continue until further orders ;
he demanded reinforcements of Scottish troops
for his expedition into Gascony; and he sent to
the chief nobility of Scotland, requiring and
commanding them, by their faith and homage
as his vassals, to send their armed ret-ainers to
his banner. On receiving this message the Scot-
tish parliament assembled at Scone — not, how-
ever, for the purpose of compliance, but to
organize a decisive and open resistance. Their
measures on this occasion were characterized
by boldness and sagacity. Their fii-st proceed-
ing was to persuade their passive king to dis-
miss aU those Englishmen who, either as visitora
or as functionaries, resided at the Scottish court,
and to do this under the pretext of economizing
the public expenditure. Having thus rid them-
selves of troublesome spies, by whom their whole
proceedings would be watched and reported,
they a])])ointed a committee for the regulation
of national afl'airs, consisting of four bishops,
four earls, and four barons, without whose ad-
vice and consent no public measure was to be
tran.sacted. Alarmed also at the facile character
of Baliol, the English historians add that a
watcliful eye was kept upon all his motions, so
that he was held in a sort of honourable cap-
tivity. But the most ira])ortant as well as the
most unfortunate of all these ])reparations for
resistance was an alliance with France, the con-
firmed enemj' of England, which was concludeil
at Pai-is on the 2.3d of October, 1295. By this
treaty the King of Scots engaged to assist
Philip le Bel in his ware, with all bis power

178

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1292-1296.

and at his own charges, and especially in the
event of an invasion of France by the King of
England. On the other hand Philip engaged,
if Scotland vras invaded by Edward, to assist
the Scots either by making a diversion or send-
ing supplies of men and money. It was further
stipulated that neither sovereign was to con-
clude a peace with England separate from the
other. To confirm these engagements Baliol's
son and heir was to espouse the eldest daughter
of the Count of Anjou, brother of Philip le Bel,
whUe Baliol agreed not to contract a second
marriage without the advice of the French king.

Although the English spies were removed
from the Scottish court, and the negotiation
with France was conducted by stealth, the
aspect of Scottish affairs was sufficient to excite
the suspicions of Edward. But Baliol, or pro-
bably the new regency acting in his name,
endeavoured before the treaty was signed to
quiet his doubts by offering to surrender into
his keeping the castles of Berwick, Roxburgh,
and Jedburgh during the continuance of the war
between France and England, Edward engaging
on his part to restore them when a peace should
be concluded. When the time arrived that was
judged fit for action, the Scots threw off the
mask by invading England, according to the
terms of their agreement with the French king.
They entered Cumberland on the 26th of March,
to the number, it is asserted by English his-
torians, of 40,000 foot and 500 horse ; but the
proceedings of this mighty host soon showed
the enervating effects of the long peace that had
hitherto subsisted between the two countries.
After the usual preliminaries of waste and
havoc, they attacked Carlisle, which they suc-
ceeded in setting on fire ; but while the towns-
men were employed in quenching the flames,
their wives flew to the walls, repelled the assail-
ants, and forced them to retreat into Scotland.
Even without giving full credence to this English
story, it is evident that the expedition was un-
wise and contemptible. A few days after they
renewed hostilities by an inroad into North-
umberland, but their late campaign of forty-
eight hours had taught them neither discipline
nor valour, for after burning a nunnery and a
monastery, tliey attacked the castle of Harbottle,
from which they were beaten off with ease.

By these invasions Edward had obtained the
opportunity he desired, and for which he had so
diligently intrigued ; he had now a pretext for
accomplishing the utter subjugation of Scotland
by force, while, iu consequence of the divided
state of the country, such a conquest promised
to be an easy achievement. At the head of
30,000 foot and 4000 mounted men-at-arms, who
had been ti-ained in his continental wars, he

advanced upon the eastern borders, being joined
iu his march by Anthony Beck, the warlike
Bishop of Durham, with 10(10 foot and 500
horse. The first operation was the siege of
Berwick, which the Scots instead of surrender-
ing to Edward, had strongly garrisoned and
placed under the command of Sir William
Douglas. This city, already distinguished by its
commercial enterprise and wealth, so as to be
called by the English themselves a second
Alexandria, was not only a tempting prize, but
had given offence by plundering several English
vessels that had imsuspectingly entered the
harbour at the commencement of the revolt.
Ill fitted though the town was for resistance,
being defended only by a dike, its inhabitants
rejected Edward's summons to surrender, upon
which he assailed it both by land and sea. The
naval portion of this combined attack was un-
successful; the townsmen and the garrison fell
upon the ships, burned three of them, and di'ove
the rest in a crippled condition out to sea. But
Edward, who had carefully surveyed the ground,
conducted the land attack with equal valour
and skill, di'ove back the Scottish garrison, and,
mounted upon his horse B.ayard, was the first
who leaped the dike. Berwick was entered
and the work of massacre and plunder com-
menced, which was conducted with all the ran-
cour of a newly kindled national hatred; neither
age nor sex, neither church nor monastery, was
spared. In this indiscriminate carnage the loss
of life has been variously estimated, but it is
probable that not less than 10,000 or 12,000
perished, while for two days the streets ran
with blood. Amidst these horrors the fate of a
body of Flemish merchants who resided in the
town is worthy of especial notice. Their factory
was a building called the Eed-hall, which they
occupied upon the tenure of defending it at all
times against the English king. True not only
to the spirit, but the very letter of theii- feudal
engagements, these merchant-heroes, although
only thirty in number, defended the Eed-haU
till night against the whole English army ; and
on the building being set on fire they stiU kept
their post, and perished to a man in the flames.
Alas for the fidelity of Scottish knights and
nobles compared with these strangers and traf-
fickers ! Sir William Douglas, commander of
the castle, and his garrison of 200 men, seeing
the hopelessness of resistance, capitulated on the
same day, and were allowed to march out with
the honours of war, after making oath that
they would never bear arms against England.
From this terrible blow, which it sustained on
the 30th of March (1296), Berwick never fully
recovered.

After these events the war- could no longer

A.D. 1292-1296.]

REIGN OF JOHN BALIOL.

179

be considered as the mere outbreak of a discon-
tented party ; the victorious enemy was in the
midst of the country, and must be met by a
united and national resistance. The measures
of Baliol, therefore, or at least those which were
adopted by the Scottish council in his name, were
marked with boldness and decision, although
they were too late to be availing. Decrees were
issued that all English ecclesiastics who held
benefices in Scotland should be expelled, and
that all attached to the cause of England, or who
remained neutral, should be visited with the
penalties of treason. This last enactment was
especially levelled against the party of Bruce,
who hoped that the revolt of Baliol would
elevate their own chief to the forfeited sove-
reignty. By the advice of his parliament, also,
Baliol sent to the King of England a solemn and
formal renunciation of his allegiance, with a
statement of the causes on which this renuncia-
tion was founded. These were, that he, the
King of Scotland, had been wantonly and upon
frivolous causes summoned to the English court;
that his estates in England had been seized ;
that his goods and the goods of his subjects had
been spoliated; and that natives of Scotland
had been forcibl_Y Ciirried off, and were still de-
tained in England. He idso declared that when
he had remon.strated against these injuries,
Edward, instead of redressing them, had only
added to their amount, and was now wasting
his kingdom with fire and sword. " Wherefore,"
the missive concluded, " I renounce the fealty
and homage that have been extorted from me,
and in defence of my kingdom bid defiance to
Edward, King of England." When the mes-
sengers, who were Henry, Abbot of Ai-broath,
and three of his monks, arrived at the camp of
Edward, they found him employed in construct-
ing new fortifications to secure his tenure of the
town of Berwick. The nature of the message,
which he had provoked and doubtless expected,
only filled him with contempt ; and having
hastily read it to the end, he exclaimed, " The
senseless traitor ! But since he will not come
to us, we will go to him."

The invasion of Scotland, and the severities
with which it was accompanied, provoked re-
taliation, and a counter invasion was made into
England under the Earls of Menteith, Ross, and
Athole. But wild though its devastation Wiis
over the districts of Redesdale and Tynedale, in
which towns and villages were plundered and
reduced to ashes, it was only a desperate foray
to provoke and justify the vengeance of the
conqueror. Edward advanced upon Dunbar,
the gate of the Scotti-sh kingdom on the side of
England, of which he lately possessed the key ;
for a small garrison attached to his cause held

the castle, while Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, was
serving Ln his ranks. But the Countess of Dun-
bar, whose heart was wholly with her country,
admitted the Scottish party within the walls,
who ejected the adherents of Edward, and took
possession of the town and castle in the name
of Baliol. To recover this important place
Edward sent Warrenne, Earl of Surrey, with
10,000 infantry and 1000 horse; and on being
summoned to surrender, the Scottish garrison
agreed to yield if not reUeved within three days.
The utmost efforts were made by the Scots to
bring assistance within the limited period, and
with such effect that 40,000 foot and 1500
horse were mustered upon the heights near Spot
for the relief of Dunbar. The besieged ex-
ulted at the prospect, and cried to the enemy
from the ramparts, " Xow, you long-tailed Eng-
lish dogs, we will kill you all, and chop your
tails off." Warrenne, resolving to attack this
numerous enemy upon its own vantage ground,
put his forces in motion ; but the Scots, imagin-
ing that they detected signs of confusion in the
march of the English ranks through a valley
which they had to pass, and that they intended
a retreat, came down from their heights in
tumultuous aiTay, as if to exterminate a flying
enemy. But when too late they found their
career arrested by a waU of brown bills and
levelled spears, and a destructive shower of
arrows. The battle that followed was brief ;
the Scots endeavoured to restore their broken
ranks, but in vain ; and after a confused fight
they fled, with a loss of 10,000 in the battle
and pursuit. Among the slain Sir Patrick de
Graham, a Scottish baron, is particularly men-
tioned by an English historian," as one of the
wisest and noblest of his country, who, disdain-
ing to ask for quarter, fought to the last ■n'ith a
valour that extorted the praise of his enemies.
Among the prisoners were the Earls of Ross,
Menteith, and Athole, with four barons and
seventy knights, of whom the greater part were
loaded by Edward with chains, and committed
to close confinement in the castles of England
and Wales. Attempts have been made to soften
the shame of this defeat by attributing treachery
to the leaders of the Scottish army; but its want
of discipline and rash headlong confidence were
of themselves sufficient to ensure its discom-
fiture. This terrible opening of the great drama
of the Scottish and English ware was fated to
have its ending at the same place and under
similar circumstances, moi-e than three centuries
afterwards, when a Scottish army, advantage-
ously posted at or very near tliese heights,
rushed down upon Cromwell and his iron men,

' HemiDgford.

180

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1292-1296.

in the fear that they would escape iuto England,
and were chastised with an equally shameful
defeat.

After this event, when the cause of Baliol was
at the lowest ebb, the opportunity of the Bruces
seemed to have ai-rived, in which their claims
would be reconsidered and favourably accorded.
To lull them into this delusion Edward had
tampered with their patriotism and held out
prospects, by which they were deterred from
joining the cause of their countrymen ; while,
on the other hand, Baliol and his council had
aggravated this neutrality into positive opposi-
tion by bestowing the rich lordship of Annan-
dale, belonging to the son of the competitor,
upon John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. This insult
as well as injury drove the Lord of Annaudale
into the arms of Edward, his old fellow-crusader,
who received him with a show of affectionate
sympathy, and promised him the thi-one of Scot-
land, which his rival was now unworthy to hold;
and allured with this prospect, Robert Bruce
had not only repeated his oaths of homage to
Edward, but had prevailed upon the Earls of
March and Angus to do the like. He now re-
minded Edward of his promises, which the
latter treated with contempt. " Have I no other
business," he exclaimed, " than to conquer king-
doms for you?" Silenced and stung to the
quick the disappointed noble retired. He saw
that the coveted crown would never be his.

Edward now commenced avowedly and openly
to conquer Scotland for himself; and as the
kingdom was prostrated b}' the defeat at Dunbar
his progi'ess was rapid and triumphant. The
castles of Roxburgh, Dumbarton, Edinburgh,
and Stirling were surrendered to him almost as
soon as they were summoned, while the Scottish
nobility abjured the alliance with France, and
tendered him their oaths of fealty. They saw
that in the present case resistance could only be
a dying struggle, as the English army had been
reinforced by 15,000 men from Wales, and
30,000 from Ireland under the Earl of Ulster.
Thus everywhere successful, and experiencing
no check to his progress, Edward kept the feast
of the nativity of John the Baptist at Perth,
where the services of a religious festival were
blended with the pageantries of a miUtary
triumph. It was in the midst of this revelry
of feasting, mutual congratulation, and creation
of new knights, that a mournful spectacle was
seen, which only served to complete the plea-
sure of this joyous occasion. It was the utter
humiliation of John Baliol, King of Scotland.
He sent messengei-s to implore the mercy of the
conqueror, and was ordered in reply to repair
to the castle of Brechin, and there await the
pleasure of his liege lord. Thither accordingly

he went a few days after, to undergo such con-
ditions as only a merciless enemy could im-
pose. In the presence of the Bishop of Durham
and the English barons he was divested of his
royal robes, stripped of his ci'own and sceptre,
and standing with a white rod in his hand, like
a criminal before the a,ssembly, he was com-
pelled to make a confession of his manifold
offences and acknowledge the justice of his
punishment. He averred that, misled by evil
counsellors, he had grievously offended against
Edward his king. He acknowledged the errors
of his government, and above all, the crime of
which he had been guilty in forming an alliance
with France, and making war upon England.
He finally recognized the justice of Edward in
visiting this rebellion with the severities of in-
vasion. In this humbling pageant the King of
England, as in many other instances, allowed
his pride and his love of vengeance to overcome
his policy. It was most unwise thus to displume
a sovereign before his own hard-ruled and high-
spirited rebellious barons ; and this ver}' sj^ec-
tacle, which they could not fail to treasure up
in their memories, they afterwai-ds re-enacted
with fearful additions upon his own son, Ed-
ward II. Three days after this Baliol made a
voluntary resignation of his crown, kingdom,
and people into the hands of Edward, and gave
up his eldest son Edward as a hostage for his
future obedience, when he had been nomi-
nally a sovereign three yeai's, seven months, and
two days. After this cession both father and
son were sent by sea to the Tower of London,
where they were kept in captivity three j'ears.
The name of John became thenceforth one of
evil signification in the royal family of Scotland,
and was therefore carefully avoided, while the
decisive epithet of Toom-tabard^ was applied to
Baliol himself, as if he had been nothing more
than a herald's empty coat. The nickname was
too well merited, not only by the showy pro-
mise of his reign compared with the unsubstan-
tial reality, but by the mere pageant office which
he was selected to fulfil, and the caielessness
with which he was thrown aside when the play
was ended. Such a king was best suited to the
purposes of Edward upon Scotland.

Having thus displaced the nominal sovereign
of the kingdom, and being armed with all the
rights of couquest as well as his fabulous claims
of feudal superiority, the English king now re-
solved to complete the work of subjugation and
rule Scotland, without giving it any longer even
a pretext of indejiendence to cover the shame
of its submission. He thei-efore proceeded

I Toom in Scotch is empty; it is the Icel. torn, Dan. toin,
empty.

A.D. 1292-1296.]

EEIGN OF JOHN BALIOL.

181

northward in his military progress, receiving
as lie ailvanced the submission of both priests
and nobles, and their abjuration of the French
league, from which they had derived so little
benefit, notwithstanding the high promises and
professions of France. In this way he proceeded
as far as Elgin in Morayshire without meeting
the least resistance. Thus finding the whole
country apparently subdued and submissive, he
retraced his steps for the purpose of holding a
parliament at Berwick ; and, in passing the
Abbey of Scone, he desjjoiled it of its famous
projjhetic stone on which the kings of Scotland
were crowned, and sent it to Westminster Abbey
as a proof and memorial of the full cession and
conquest of Scotland. ^ Having thus treated the
great palladium of its national independence, it
was not to be supposed that he would be more
lenient with its less venerated symbols; and
accordingly the memory of Edward I., notwith-
standing the attempts that have been made to
clear it, will still continue, and perhaps justly,
to be aspersed with the crime of mutilating or
destroying the charters and historical documents
in the Abbey of Scone that exposed the fallacy
of his pretensions to the feudal sovereignty over
Scotland. On arriving at Berwick he held a
parliament on the 28th of August (1296), and
there the priests, nobles, and gentry of Scotland,
hitherto so divided among themselves and so
unfitted for a united effort when the moment
of trial had arrived, were unanimous in their
submission to the conqueror. Their subscrip-
tions to the oaths of homage to the King of
England as their liege lord, and their abandon-
ment of the French alliance, covered thirty-five
skins of parchment, and under the name of
Kagman Eolls are still preserved among the
archives of London. Among these names we
might probably have found that of Robert
Bruce, the competitor; but, more fortunate than
his successful rival, Baliol, he had died in the
preceding year. The name, however, of his son,
Roliert Bi'uce, Earl of Can-ick, whose appeal
Edward had so contemptuously rejected after
the battle of Dunbar, is to be found in that roll,
and so would also that of Robert Bruce, the
future liberator and king have been, but that
he wjus .-^till a minor, although ali'eady acting
by commission under the King of England in
tranquillizing the districts of Carrick and An-
nandale.

The other measures adopted by Edward for
the government of the subjugated country, now
that this was accomplished, were both wise and
dement. He ordered the lauds of the clergy

' Kt hoc in siguum regiii comiuesti ct resifiuiti.— W.il-
Biugham.

that had been confiscated at the commencement
of the war to be restored to them. The widows
of those Scottish barons whose husbands had
died before the French alliance were put in
possession of their jointure lands on their pro-
mise of fealty to him as sovereign of the king-
dom. He even appointed decent pensions for
the wives of several who had risen in anus
against him, and were now his prisoners. With
the exception of the government of the more
dangerous districts, and the custody of castles
and places of strength, most of those persons
who had held office under Baliol were continued
in their charges. The Scottish prelates were also
conciliated by his granting to them the privilege
of bequeathing their effects by will, " in the
same manner as that privilege was enjoyed by
the archbishops and bishops in England." For
the future government of the country Edward
appointed John Warrenne, Earl of Surrey, and
victor at Dunbar, to the office of Guardian of
Scotland, Hugh de Cressingham to be Treasurer,
and WUliam Ormesby, Justiciary, while the four
principal strengths of the kingdom, which were
the castles of Edinburgh, Berwick, Roxburgh,
and Jedburgh, were placed under the keeping
of trustworthy English commanders, with well-
appointed English garrisons.

Satisfied with these ai'rangements Edward
returned to England; and, suspecting no further
trouble from Scotland, he tiu-ned his attention
to France and the recovery of his continental
possessions. But the expense of the late Scot-
tish invasion had impoverished his exchequer,
and when he demanded fresh supplies for the
prosecution of the French war his application
was met by his parliament with discontented
murmurs, and by his chief barons with a flat
refusal. In the midst of these embarrassments,
while the clergy were withholding from him
their money and the nobles their military attend-
ance, and when the general discontent seemed
ripening into open revolt, alarming tidings
reached him from Scotland that more than
doubled his perplexity. The people, whom he
had not taken into account when he received
the submission of their nobles, had risen of their
own accord against their English governors —
were plundering the lands of his adherents,
attacking the castles he had garrisoned, and
defeating his veteran soldiei-s in several bloody
encounters. These, indeed, which at first were
but riots, and as such might have been quickly
extinguished, were daily gi-owiug into a great
national rebellion which armies and years might
be insufficient to suppress ; for a master-spirit
was at their head. Sir William Wallace had
already entered upon his divine mission — the
mission of setting his country free.

182

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1296-1298.

CHAPTER III.

RESISTANCE TO EDWARD I. UNDER WILLIAM WALLACE (1296-129S).

Sir William Wallace — Commencement of his patriotic career — He kills the sheriff of Lanark — Successful
exploits of Wallace — He is joined by several of the nobles — Their envy of W^allace aud secession from his
standard — Wallace defeats the English at Stirling — He recovers the castles and expels the English from
Scotland — Wallace invades England — Summons Newcastle to surrender — Protects the monks of Hexham
— He is appointed Guardian of Scotland — His strict and able government — Difficulties of Edward I. — He
invades Scotland — Plan of defence adopted by Wallace — Military operations of Edward in Scotland —
Battle of Falkirk and defeat of Wallace.

Sir William Wallace, who now appears upon
the scene, was the second son of Sir Malcolm
Wallace of Ellerslie, near Paisley. At what
period the family had settled in that part of
Scotland is unknown, and it appears also to
have lived unnoticed until the exploits of the
national champion gave it an imperishable
name in history. As Sir Malcolm, his father,
belonged to the lower order of barons who
owed nothing to England, and whom Edward
had overlooked after the ready submission of
their superiors. Sir William belonged to that
class of the Scottish population which was most
alive to sentiments of national liberty and best
fitted to maintain it. The boyhood and youth of
Sir William Wallace were chiefly passed with his
uncle, a wealthy priest at Dunipace, in Stirling-
shire, by whom he was imbued with a greater
portion of learning than was commonly im-
parted to the rude young squires of the period ; ^
and his education, thus auspiciously commenced,
was afterwards improved and matured in the
schools of Dundee. Thus early prepared by
mental training for command and leadership
during a period of anarchy and oppression, he
also possessed in an eminent degi'ee those per-
sonal qualifications without which mere intel-
lectual superiority would have remained un-
recognized. His stature, which was almost
gigantic, at once announced and claimed pre-
eminence over the common herd ; his strength
was commensurate with his stature, so that his
personal prowess, which kindled the emvdation
and inspired the confidence of his followei-s,
was a banner around which despair itself could

1 We are told that a Latin lesson which the young hero
learned from his uncle, and never afterwards forgot, was
the following leonine verses, which he often delighted to
repeat ;—

*'Dico tibi verum, Libertas optima rerum,
Nunquam servili sub uexu vivito, fill."

Of these lines Mouipennie has given the following trans-
lation ;—

" My Sonne (I say) Freedom is best.
Then never yield to thrall's arrest."

rally; while his powere of hardy endurance in
every change rose superior to the dangers,
fatigues, and privations of that arduous self-
denying career to which his whole life was de-
voted. Thus has the rude poetry of Henry the
Minstrel described the Scottish Achilles of the
thirteenth century; and the deeds of Wallace,
as they are recorded by the veritable historian,
completely authenticate the description of the
poet. And it is thus, and thus only, that he
still passes before the enthusiastic fancy of his
countrymen as a glorious living reality, while
nothing but the names of his contemporaries
have survived.

Circumstanced as Scotland was at this period,
any accidental spark was enough to kindle such
a spirit as that of Wallace into a flame ; and a
street brawl in the town of Lanark was the
commencement of his patriotic course. He was
walking peacefully along when certain English
soldiers of the garrison, who had marked him
for some time with no friendly eye, accosted
him with insulting language and made a puU
at his sword as if he had no right to wear one.
After a short and sharp dialogue Wallace drew,
and so bravely bestirred himself that more than
one assailant bit the dust. He would soon have
been overpowered in that unequal conflict but
for the aflectiou of his mistress,- who, as he
retreated fighting, threw open her door and
gave him shelter, and afterwards, on their forc-
ing their way into the apartment, secured his
escape by a private passage, aud delayed the
pursuers imtil he had safely reached the neigh-
bouring greenwood. This outbreak alarmed
Hislop,^ the English sheriff; and as the culprit
was beyond his reach, he revenged the injiu-y
upon the affectionate woman by putting her to
death. So unmanly and cold-blooded a murder
was followed by swift retribution. Wallace in

2 The old tradition, which is worthy of credit, makes her
the ^vife of Wallace, and states that her maiden name was
Brartfute.

2 Also called Heselrig by the old historians.

HOW WALLACE FISHED IN IRVINE WATER.

So on a time he desired to play.

In Aperil, the three and twenty day,

Till Irvine water fish to tak he went ;

Sic fantasy there fell in his intent.

To lejid his net a child furth with him gaed ;

But he or [ere] noon was in a felon [great] dread.

His sword he left, so did he never again ;

It did him good, suppose he suffered pain.

In that labour' then he was noways slee [slow] ;

Happy he was, took fish aliundantly.

Or of the day ten hours ower could pass,

Ridand there came, near by where Wallace was,

The lord Percy', was captain then of Ayr;

From thence he turned and did to Glasgow fare.

Part of the court had Wallace' labour seen.

Till him rade Kve clad all in gainly [comely] green.

And said soon—" Scot, Martin's fish we would have."

Wallace meekly again answer him gave :

" It were reason', methinks, ye should have part :

Waith [game or prey] should be dealt in all place with free heart."

He bade his child — "Give them of our catching."

The Southron said—" But now of thy dealing

We will not tak; thou would give us ower small."

He Uchtit doun and frae the child took all.

Wallace said then — " Gentle men if ye be.

Leave us some part, we pray for charity.

Ane aged knight serves our Lady to-day ;

Good frend leave part and tak not all away."

" Thou sail have leave to fish and tak thee mae.

All this forsooth sail in our flitting gae.

We serve a lord ; thir [these] fish sail till him gang. "

Wallace answered, said — "Thou art in the wrang."

" Wham thou's thou, Scot? In faith thou 'serves a blaw."

Till him he ran, and out a sword did draw.

William was wae he had nae weapons there

But the poutstaff [net-pole, stick] the whilk in hand he bare.

Wallace with it fast on the cheek him took

With 50 good will that off his feet he shook.

The sword flew frae him a fur-breadth on the land.

Wallace was glad and hent [seized] it soon in hand ;

And with the sword an awkward straik him gave

Under the hat, his craig in sunder drave.

With that the lave lichtit about Wallace ;

He had no help but only Goddis grace.

On either side full fast on him they dang [pressed],

Great peril was if that had lasted lang.

Upon the head in great ire he strak ane.

The shearand sword glade [glided] to the collar-bane.

Ane other on the arm he hit so hardily

That hand and sword baith on the field did he.

The tother twa fled to their horse again ;

He stickit him was last upon the plain.

Three slew he there, twa fled with all their might

After their lord, but he was out of sight,

Takand the muir, or [ere] he and they could twin [separate].

Till him they rade anon, or [ere] they would blin [stop].

And cryit : " Lord, abide ; your men are martyred doun

Right cruelly here in this false regioun.

Five of our court here at the water bade [remained],

Fish for to bring, though it nae profit made.

We are escaped, but in field slain are three."

The lord speired : " How mony might they be ? "

" We saw but ane that has discomfited ns all."

Then leuch he loud, and said ; " Foul mote you fall !

Sin' ane you all has put to confusioun.

Who moans it most the devil of hell him droun ;

This day for me, in faith, he'll be not sought."

When Wallace thus his worthy work had wrought.

Their horse he took, and gear that left was there ;

Gave ower that craft, he gaed to fish no mair.

—Blind Harry's Wallace, Book I. (somewhat modernized).

WALLACIi, Al'TACKKU HY LORD PERCYS lOl.LOWERS

IRViNP. Water, defends himself with his neti-ole. as told l

HENRY THE MINSTREL Ici'U A U IS94I

A.D. 1296-129S.]

WILLIAM WALLACE.

183

the greenwood was soon at the head of thirty
meu who, like himself, burned with indignation
at the oppressors, and were ready at every
hazard to turn upon them. At midnight he
led his band into the town to iissail the mur-
derer in his place of strength ; he burst open
the door of tlie lodging in which the sheriff
.slept; and on that functionary starting up in
bed and asking who was there, he received the
terrible answer, " It is I, William Wallace, come
to i-equite thee for the deed of yesterday!"
Seizing Hislop by the thi-oat, he dragged him
down the stairs and slew him in the open street,
where liis soldiei-s might have heard his out-
cries, and, if they so pleased, have attempted a
rescue.

This daring deed, which made Wallace a
fugitive and an outlaw, and compelled him to
find his home among forests and mountain-
caves, also made him an open avowed patriot,
the leader of a gallant troop, and finally the
general of a victorious army. At first his ex-
ploits were confined to petty skii-mishes and a
shifting guerrilla warfiU'e; but in these his
military sagacity, personal valour, and unfailing
success were so distinguished that public atten-
tion was aroused, and those who hitherto de-
spaired for their country were now encouraged
to hope. Not only many a patriotic spirit also,
but many a desperado proscribed by the laws
of both countries, and wliose only safety could
be found among the armed ranks of insurrec-
tion, repaired to this flying camp; and in a
short time Wallace was at the head of a strange
miscellaneous assemblage whose deeds as well as
motives could not always sustain a rigid inquest.
But his power of harmonizing and directing the
movements of such discordant materials, of per-
vading them with one generous heroic purpose,
and inspiring them with such confidence against
an enemy from whom they had lately fletl in
abject ten'or, speak strongly of his fitness for
command, and this especially when his yeai-s are
taken into account. For he w;is still little more
than a stripling when gi-ay-haired outlaws and
distinguished veterans elected liim to the difli-
cult and dangerous oftice of leader. Circum-
stances favourable to tlie insurrection were also
to be found in tlie character of the English
rulers and the nature of theu- government.
Warrenne, wliose military talents at least ap-
pear to have been of a high order, had been
obliged on account of ill health to retire to the
north of England when his presence was most
needed. Hugh de Cressingham, the treasurer,
although a priest, was more attached to military
than ecclesiastical studies, and in consequence
of this unholy apostasy from liis sacred calling
•was a presumptuous, blundering, and ignorant

soldier, and a selfish tyrannical clei-gyman, whose
rochet the people hated and despised more than
they feared his corselet. As for Ormesby, the
justiciary, whose especial charge was to exact
the oatli of fealty to the King of England from
the lesser barons and commons, and punish the
recusants, he discharged his odious duty with
such despotic severity as made the people at
large fuUy conscious of their bondage and im-
patient for deliverance.

In the meantime Wallace, whose successful
exploits rang far and wide, and whose follow-
ing was daily augmented, at length received a
powerful accession in Sir William Dougla-s, who
joined him with a large array of military re-
tainere. Sir William had commanded the gar-
rison of Berwick when it was besieged by the
English, and on the surrender of the town had
been allowed to depai-t on swearing fealty to
Edward. As Sun-ey and Cressingham had re-
paired to England to attend the parliament,
leaving the whole charge of affaii-s in the hands
of Ormesby, Wallace and Douglas resolved to
attack the justiciary whUe thus unsupported
by his more able associates. Accordingly they
marched to Scone, where he was holding a
justice-court, with such celerity that his mili-
tary followers were surprised and routed, and
himself all but taken prisoner. Animated by
this victory and enriched with its spoils, the in.
surgents no longer confined themselves to guer-
rilla operations, but made war in open fashion,
at fii'st by dispossessing the English in the open
country, and afterwards by laying siege to the
castles.' In this manner, while Wallace swept
the country to the west and adv^anced into
Lennox, Douglas took the castles of Sanquhar
and Disdeir. Their cause, indeed, was now so
promising that some of the most powerful of
the Scottish nobility ventured to join it, the
chief of whom were the Stewai-d of Scotland
and his brother; Alexander de Lindesay, Sir
Richard Lundin, and the best and truest of
them all, Sii' Andrew Moray of Bothwell. To
these were added the politic head and wise
counsels of Eobert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow.
A still more important adherent soon followed;
this w;ia Eoliert Bruce, grandson of the com-
jietitor and future King of Scotland, whose
]>roceedings as yet had been marked by little
else tliau youthful thoughtlessness and irreso-
lution. For this, however, not only his tender
years might have formed some apology, and
the vacillating selfish examples affoi-ded by his
father and gitindfather, but also liis English
descent which lie sliarcd in conimou with most
of the nobility of Scotland. But his power and

I llcaiingford.

184

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1296-1298.

influence were of immense consequence; for in
right of his mother, the Countess of Carrick,
and by the concession of his father, who was
Lord of Annandale, his possessions extended
from tlie Frith of Clyde to the Solway. Aware
of the uncertain tenure of his allegiance and
the dangerous example that would be given by
his secession, the English guardians of Scotland
resolved to assure themselves of his fidelity;
and for this purpose they summoned him to
attend at Carlisle on a certain day, there to
consult with them for the interests of the king,
provided he still recognized their king as his
sovereign.! The young Bruce complied with
the mandate enforced by such a test of obedi-
ence, and he swore fealty to Edward and truth
and \agilance to the utmost in his service, upon
a consecrated host and upon the holy sword of
St. Thomas k Becket. Eager to prove his sin-
cerity, he then invaded the estate of Sir William
Douglas, which he wasted with tire and sword,
and carried off his wife and children prisoners.
But repentance quickly followed ; he was im-
patient to recant his apostasy; and having
assembled the men of Annandale, he tried to
lead them over to the ranks of the insurgents,
declaring that the oath of homage had been ex-
torted from him through fear and by violence ;
that although he had uttered it with his lips,
he had not taken it in his heart ; and that now
he repented of it, and, as he hoped, would soon
be absolved from it. But the men of Annan
were the vassals of his father, who was now
with Edward in England ; and on their refusal
to compromise the safety of theii' lord, young
Bruce collected his own feudal retainers and
went over to the party of Wallace.^

These events had followed so rapidly and had
matured so quickly into a national revolt that
Edward could not believe the tidings when
they reached him ; and he despatched Anthony
Beck, his favourite bishop, northward to learn
the real state of matters, or if he could, to ex-
tinguish the rebeUion. But the warlike prelate,
on crossing the Scottish border, found the in-
surrection so formidable that his report aston-
ished and irritated Edward, who was ready to
embark for Flanders, after having overcome the
opposition of his own subjects, and extorted their
consent to a continental war. To stay the ex-
pedition was impossible ; and he thought that
this outbreak of the Scots might be easily sup-
pressed, as their principal nobles were in his
custody, either as feudal attendants or prisoners;
he therefore ordered Warrenne to muster the
whole military force north of the Trent, suppress

1 *' Tractaturus cum eis de negotiis regis, si tamen in fide
ipsius regis perseverando maneret." — Hemingford.

2 Hemingford.

the revolt in Scotland at once, and inflict due
chastisement upon its leaders. He also sent the
two Comyns, John Earl of Buchan, and John
Lord of Badenoch, into the nortli, to recall the
people to their allegiance. Surrey, whose re-
missness in England during the progi-ess of late
events even the plea of sickness can scarcely ex-
plain, now bestirred himself in earnest; and
having mustered his forces at York, he sent
40,000 foot and 300 mounted men-at-arms into
Scotland under the command of Henry Percy,
his nephew. The invaders entered Annandale
on the 10th of August (1297), and encamped at
Lochmaben in full security. But their motions
had been watched, and at midnight they were
attacked by such a furious onset of the Scots
that they only escaped the fatal effects of a sur-
prise by setting fire to the wooden houses, and
fighting by the light of the flames. In this way
they were able to form their ranks and drive
back the enemy, after which they marched to
Ayr to receive the Gallowegians into the king's
peace. So strong, however, was the spirit of
revolt in that quarter that only a few knights
tendered the requii-ed submission.

While the progress of the invaders was so
unsatisfactory, tidings came to Percy that the
Scottish army was within four miles of his
quarters and ready to give him battle, upon
which he advanced to the neighbourliood of
Irvine, where he found them drawn up on the
border of a small loch. Their numbei-s were
nearly equal to his own, and with them was
Wallace, who was worth whole armies ; but he
was no longer the leader whom all were ready
to obey and proud to follow. The late acquisi-
tions of the high-born and noble who had flocked
to his standard, instead of strengthening, had
only weakened the cause of national liberty; for,
while each contended for pre-eminence over his
fellows, all were united in refusing to have for
their leader a man who, however brave and
fortunate, was but the son of a private knight,
and a mere man of the people. It was upon the
banks of that little lake near Irvine that the
evil first distinctly manifested itself, which was
for ages to prove the bane and the political
curse of Scotland. With an enemy in front of
them, all was feud, faction, and quarrel, so that
they were unfit either to give battle or to re-
treat ; and on seeing the hopeless state of mat-
ters. Sir Richard Lundin, one of the bravest and
most experienced of their warriore, went over
to the enemy, exclaiming, that he would no
longer fight by the side of those who were
divided and at variance among themselves.'
His departure was an evil prestige to tlie cause

3 Hemingford.

A.D. 1296-1298.]

WILLIAM WALLACE.

185

of Scottish liberty, for liitherto lie liail refused
■allegiance to the King of England, and now
only submitted in utter desjiair. His examjile
was as the beginning of the letting out of water,
for Bruce, the Steward of Scotland, and his
lirotlier; Alexander de Lindesay, Sir William
Douglas, and the Bishop of Glasgow immediately
opened a negotiation with the enemy, went over
to them with all theii" followers, and subscribed
themselves once more the vassals of England.
Of all the men of rank who had lately joined
the young champion of Scotland none remained
with him but Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell.
Unable to give battle after these desertions, and
scorning every proposal to surrender, Wallace
drew off with his own well-tried veterans, and
resumed that flying warfai'e which the professed
aid of the barons had only interrupted. Nor
was his cause so hopeless as it appeared. He
had already won for himself a nobility of liis
own in the hearts of the common people which
no titles could impart; and even the affections
and wishes of the militai-y vassals of the nobles
were with him, though their presence and ser-
vices were on the adverse side.'

In the meantime the condition of the apostate
nobles, who had maintained their pride of place
at such a ransom, was far from enviable. In
their instrument of treaty with Lord Percy
they had confessed their treasonable offences,
such as " burning, slaying, and committing
divers robberies" in Galloway and Scotland;
and on their supplication had been once more
received to Edward's mercy; but the first brunt
of danger being over, they found themselves
suspected persons, and treated as mere prisonera
at large. Such was especially the case with
Robert Bruce, whose submission and oaths,
after those he had taken at Carlisle had been so
readily violated, were now of such little account,
that, in addition to these, his infant daughter,
Marjory, was required of him as a hostage for
his sincerity. Even yet, also, they entleavoured
to make a sUind upon the ground of patriotism,
by withholding the pledges of their futuie sub-
mission until certain reservations they had
made in the treaty for the rights of their country
should be complied with ; but by the act of
making these very reservations they had com-
pletely deprived themselves of the power of
enforcing them. Their shallow compromise, ;is
is usually the case in a question of national and
vita.1 intei'est, had lost them the confidence of
the party they forsook, without winning that of

* Such is the confession of ITemingford even when ho ia
•peakinK most bitterly of "illc latro Willelmus Wallays."
His wonU are: "Tota ctiani faniilia niaRnatum adhajrebat
ef. et licet ipsl ma;;:iiate8 cum rege nostro essent corpore,
cor tonuMi eorum longe erat ab oo."
VOL. I.

their new allies, and this the unfortunate Bishop
of Glasgow was soon fated to exjjerience. He
had negotiated the treaty of suiTender; and
upon the demur of his associates, he had re-
jiaired to Roxburgh, and given himself up un-
conditionally as a prisoner; but Edward treated
him harshly, under the pretext that he was still
a traitor in his heart, and that he had only re-
paired to Roxburgh to betray its castle to the
Scots. On the other hand, Wallace, incensed at
the bishop's treachery, attacked his house, plun-
dered it of its stores, arms, and horses, and
caj-ried off his sons, who lived with him under
the decent name of nephews.-

It is not impossible that this surrender of the
insurgent Scottish nobles acted as favourably
for the Ciiuse of their forsaken country as their
stoutest resistance could have done. In the
latter case Edward, foregoing his intended cam-
paign to Flanders, would have brought his whole
military force to bear upon the more important
acquisition of Scotland, and thus the new-born
patriotism of the people would have been over-
whelmed and crushed at the outset. But now
that the nobles had forsaken it, it could be
nothing more than a mob-riot of contemptible
undisciplined villains, whom the onset of a few
knights would suffice to scatter to the wind.
Thus Edward must have calculated ; and ac-
cording to the feudal reckoning of the period,
his conclusion was sound. Even in Wallace,
too, a mere Robin Hood of outlaws, who had
neither years, nor rank, nor mihtary name ac-
cording to the reports that must have reached
him, he could never expect to find a greater
king of the people, and more formidable military
antagonist than his old opponent, the Earl of
Leicester. Edward, therefore, without pausing
for a moment in preparations for his war in
Flanders, where leadei's of high name were to
be encountered and knightly deeds achieved,
made hasty arrangements at his dejiarture for
the extinction of these Scottish disturbances.
He liberated the more doubtful of the Scottish
barons who had been taken prisoners at Dunbar,
and restored their forfeited lands, on condition
of their serving with him in Flanders, and
leaving their eldest sons in England as hostages.
Othera of the nobles, in whom he had more con-
fidence, he allowed to return to their country,
on promising to assist his officers in suppressing
the rebellion. He also detached as many of the
troops as he could spare fioni the continental
exiiedition to join the northern army which was
to act against the Scots. But to crown all these
prudential measures by a great political blunder,

* "Filins ctiam episcopi. nepotum nomine nuncapatoa,
Becum ailvluxit."— Hemingford.

186

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1296-1298.

he deprived Warrenne of the office of Governor
of Scotland on account of the dilatoriuess of his
proceedings in suppressing the rebellion, while
he continued him in the principal command of
that army upon which the fresh conquest and
subjugation of Scotland was mainly to depend.
It is unfortunate that we have no certain
account of the exploits of Wallace for a few
months after this treaty of Irvine, and when he
was thrown upon his original resources; but
that they were sufficiently brilliant as well as
successful is evident from the fact that he had
taken the castles of Forfar, Brechin, and Mon-
trose, and expelled the English from most of
the places they had garrisoned northward of the
Forth. He was now besieging the castle of
Dundee, when he heard that the English army
was advancing upon Stirling ; upon which,
charging the citizens of Dundee upon pain of
death to continue the blockade of the castle, he
drew oft" his forces, and by a rapid march ad-
vanced upon Stirling, with the ground of which
he was well acquainted, to secure a tit position
for his army. The place he selected for giving
battle was admirably chosen, being a rising
ground on the Forthabovethe Abbey of C.ambus-
kenneth, and with full command of the passage
of the river ; and having secured these advan-
tages before the arrival of the English, Wallace,
at the head of 40,000 foot and 180 horse,
awaited the iss\ie of what was probably his first
pitched battle upon a large scale. The English
soon appeared, and in greater force than the
Scots, independently of their superior equip-
ments ; for they numbered in their ranks 50,000
foot and 1000 well-armed hoi-se. They might
have advanced indeed in still greater array, as
Lord Henry Percy had hastened from Carlisle
towards Stirling to join them with 8000 foot
and 300 horae, but for the parsimony and vanity
of C'ressingham, who ordered these troops to be
disbanded on the plea that their maintenance
would be an additional expense, and that their
aid was not needed. This was not the only
evil omen under which the English approached
the place of contlict. The Earl of Lennox, with
the Steward of Scotland and other Scottish lords
who had seceded fi'om Wallace and were now
in the enemy's camp, requested Surrey to halt
for a short space while they should negotiate
with their counhymen, to prevent useless re-
sistance and bloodshed. This was granted; but
they soon found their mission hopeless, upon
which they promised at their" return to the
English quarters that they would come back to
the camp on the following day with a reinforce-
ment of sixty horsemen. On their departure at
evening with their armed train they met on
their way a foraging party of English soldiei-s ;

an afl'ray commenced between the two bands,
and in the skirmish the Earl of Lennox drove
his sword through an English soldier's throat.
The whole English camp was in commotion as
soon as the tidings reached them ; the soldiere
ran to their arms, declaring that the Scottish
barons had betrayed them and formed a com-
pact with their insui'gent countrymen ; and in
proof of this they pointed to their bleeding com-
panion, whom they carried before Wai-renne.
" Contain yourselves for this night," said the
earl, " and if to-morrow they do not fulfil their
promises we shall exact the greater vengeance."
To pacify their impatience he also issued orders
that all should be in readiness to cross the
Bridge of Stirling on the following day.^

Early on the next morning a body of more
than 5000 English infantry and a great number
of Welsh crossed the bridge ; but on finding
themselves unsupported by the rest of the army,
they returned to their camp, where the Earl of
Surrey, their commander, was still asleep. An
hour afterwards he rose ; but, instead of pro-
ceeding to action, he conferred the honour of
knighthood upon several young chivalrous as-
pirants, some of whom were not destined to live
till sunset. He then ordered the bridge to be
passed, but speedily revoked the order, because
the Scottish barons, with their promised rein-
forcement of sixty horse, had not arrived ; and
when they came at last it was without their
foUowera, and only to announce that their efforts
to treat with the Scottish army had been in
vain — that they could withdraw from their
ranks neither horae nor horseman.- On looking
across the river and marking the encampment
of the Scots, Surrey appeai-s for the first time
to have discovered the strength of their j)0si-
tion and the danger of attacking it, so that he
had recoui-se to negotiation; and he sent two
preaching friars of Cambuskenneth to propose
terms of peaceable surrender. " Return to your
employere," cried Wallace to the messengers,
"and tell them that we are here not to treat
about .safety, but prepared for battle, and to set
our country free. Let them then come hither
when they please, and they shall find us ready
to meet them beard to beard." ^ This answer
raised the resentment of the English army to
fuj-y. "Let us march upon them," they cried;
"they defy us!" and a headlong onset would
have instantly been ordered had not Sir Richard
Lundin interposed. "My lords," said that pru-
dent warrior to the English leaders, "if we

1 Hemingford.

2 " Dicentes. se non posse ab eis eripere nee equos nee
arma. " — Hemingford.

*"Nosparatus invenient etiam in barbas eorum."— He-
mingford.

A.D. 1096-1298.]

cross the bridge we are dead men. See ye not
that we Ciiunot enter upon it except two by two,
while the enemy commands our flank and can
be upon us when the)' please in full force. But
there is a ford not far otf, where we can cross
sixty abreast. Give me then 500 hoi-se and a
small body of foot, with which I will attack
them in the rear and throw them into confusion,
while you, lord earl, and the rest can meanwhile
cross the bridge in full security." To this wise
advice, which might havesaved the English army,
Cressingham the treasurer interposed a haughty
negative. "Lord earl, it is not right," he im-
patiently exclaimed, " to spend fiuther time, or
waste the king's money to no purpose : let us
attack the enemy at once, and do our devoir as
we are bound to do."

In an evil hour Sun-ey consented. He had
already been superseded for remissness, and his
prudent delay on the present occasion might be
liable to a similar charge. He therefore gave
the word to cross that narrow bridge whose
danger Lundin had not exaggerated. And the
fact is marvellous to tell, as well as the fearful
result, exclaims the old historian,' how so many
and such prudent men crowded upon a bridge
where scarcely two could ride together, and
when they knew that the enemy were in readi-
ness to receive them ! The van was led by Sir
Marmaduke Twenge, a brave knight and skilful
leader, and joined with him in command was
the presumptuous Cressingham. When about
half of the Engli.sh army had defiled along the
narrow pa.ssage, in which thej' occupied several
hours, Wallace, who had kept his ranks in quiet
until a sufficient number were within his reach,
wheeled round a body of spearmen, who took
possession of the foot of the bridge and barred
all further communication between the two por-
tions of the severed army. Twenge, ignorant
of this movement, by which support or retreat
were equally prevented, and impatient for battle,
rushed up the heights to assail the Scots ; but
this impetuous movement threw his ranks into
disorder; they were assailed, broken, and thrown
ilown the hill; and when driven back to the
bridge, they discovered when too late that their
only hope of safety was in possession of the
Scots. Seeing the infantry dispersed and cut
down, and his heavily-armed horeemen plung-
ing into the river in the vain attem|)t to reach
the ojjposite side. Sir Marmaduke Twenge was
advised by his attendants to follow their ex-
ample; but he indignantly replied, "It never
sliall be said of me that I consented to be
drowned. Follow nie, and I will open your way
to the bridge!" Exerting his utmost prowess,

WILLIAM WALLACE.

187

> Hemingfonl.

he struck down his enemies to right and left,
cleared for himself a passage through the press,
and reached the opposite side, carrying his
nephew with him, whom he had rescued when
thrown down and wounded, and foUowed by
his armour-bearer. But Cressingham was not
equally fortunate, being slain at the commence-
ment of the encounter. It would be difficult to
tell whether he was most hated by his own
countrymen whom his arrogance had offended,
or by the Scots whom his tyranny had oppressed.
The contumelies which the latter inflicted on
his body have been magnified into the absurd
story that his skin was converted into saddles
or horse-girths. Even the modified report that
Wallace made of it a sword-belt is scarcely
worthy of admission, when we remember how
useless such a belt would have been to sustain
the weight of a two-handed sword.

In the meantime Surrey from the opposite
bank saw half of his fine array destroyed at a
blow without power to interpose. He even
seems to have forgot the ford in the neighbour-
hood mentioned by Lundin through which he
might have sent a rescue, or perhaps have re-
newed the battle and done all that a brave man
might and ought. He appeara, indeed, to have
been utterly stunned and deprived of all power
of judging. To add to his perplexity, the Eail
of Lennox, the steward, and other Scottish
barons, who had been watching the tide of
events, were now able to find the promised
troops which at morning had not been forth-
coming ; and with a band of their armed fol-
lowers they fell upon the scattered Englishmen
and gathered abundance of spoil. Seeing that
all was lost, and apprehending that the Scots
would cross the river, the earl ordered the bridge
to be destroyed and charged Twenge to occupy
Stirling Castle, with the promise that in ten
days he would return to his relief. His only
purpose, however, seems to have been to escape
out of Scotland, and to eflfect this he si)uiTed
with such unknightly haste to Berwick that
when he alighted at the monastery of the
Minorites his steed, on being stabled, was too
exhausted to eat. Such was the crowning close
of the victory of Stirling, fought on the 1 1th
of September, 1297. Of the English at least
25,000 must have fallen, as the Scots took few
prisoners; and the plundei- was so abundant
that many wagons were filled with it. In-
dependently, however, of its moral effect in
elevating the hopes and confirming the resis-
tance of the Scots, this victory was attended
with immediate political consequences of the
utmost importance. Dundee immediately sur-
rendered. The castles of Edinburgh and Rox-
burgh were dismautled, and Berwick was abaii-

188

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

doned by its English garrison. Over the whole
land not a single stronghold was retained for
Edward, and Scotland was completely free.
All this, too, had been achieved in a few months
by a young chieftain of outlaws and fugitives,
who had not only the ablest king and best sol-
diers of Europe, but also the nobility of his own
country, arrayed against him. His success also
at Stirling was accompanied with the gratify-
ing thought that it had been effected with little
loss to his own army, if we except the death of
the brave and patriotic Sir Andrew Moray of
Bothwell, who was mortally wounded in the
engagement.

After this victory a severe famine succeeded
in Scotland, in consequence of the neglect of
tillage during the period of strife and insecurity.
As the maintenance of his army was of the
utmost consequence Wallace, instead of dis-
banding his troops, resolved to quarter them
upon the resouices of the north of England,
and thus weaken the enemy, while he spared
the destitution of his own countrymen. The
movement was to be made upon a great na-
tional scale instead of being a common inroad ;
and on this occasion Wallace associated with
himself in command the young Sir Andrew
Moray of Bothwell, the son of him who had
fallen in the battle of Stirling. The great diffi-
culty of Wallace on this occasion arose from the
principle of feudal obedience; the vassals of
those nobles who were with Edward, or in the
interest of England, refused to repair to his
standard ; and he was obliged to have recourse
to such severe modes of impressment as the
state of the times and the necessity justified.
He accordingly ordered every county, barony,
town, and village to send him a certain propor-
tion of their fighting men between the ages of
sixteen and sixty; and to enforce compliance he
caused gibbets to be erected in each barony and
county town on which those who disobeyed
were to be hanged. To show that this was no
idle threat, several burgesses of Aberdeen who
refused to repair to the muster were in this
manner executed. By these stringent measures
a larger Scottish army was raised than had ever
yet invaded England ; and on entering Nor-
thumberland the inhabitants fled with their
wives, children, goods, and cattle, and took
refuge in Newcastle and the inland provinces.
After halting for a while, and thinking that
the enemy had retired, the fugitives ventured
to return to their homes ; but the Scots, who
had only waited for the opportunity, made a
rapid avance from their headquarters in the
forest of Rothebury, swept the counties of Cum-
berland and Northumberland, and made booty
of all that had been brought back. In this

[a.d. 1296-1298.

manner the invading bands issued from their
lair in the forest, moving wherever they pleased,
and finding none to op])ose them. " During this
time," says the English historian of the period,'
" tlie praise of God ceased in all the churches
and monasteries of the whole province from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne even to Carhsle, for all
the monks, the canons regular, and other
priests, the servants of the Lord, with all the
people, had fled from the face of the Scots; and
thus the Scots continued to lay waste with
burning and plundering from the festival of
St. Luke (18th of October) even to the festival
of St. Martin (11th of November), and there
weie none to oppose them except certain of our
men in garrison at Alnwick and other fortified
places, who sometimes sallied out and killed a
few stragglers." Thus strangely had the tide of
victory and desolation rolled backward from
Scotland into England. And merciless, indeed,
must that invasion have been in which neither
monk nor priest could be assured of his safety !
For eight days after the festival of Saint
Martin the Scottish array continued to advance,
destroying all in their progress till they came to
the city of Carlisle, which was stx-ougly fortified.
They summoned it to surrender by a priest, who
delivered his message in the following terms:
"My master, William the Conqueror, charges
you that, having due regard to your lives, you
surrender to him your town and castle without
resistance or bloodshed, for which he will give
you immunity in life, limb, and cattle ; but if
you refuse he will forthwith assail you and put
you to the sword." "Who is this conqueror?"
" He is William, whom you call Wallace," re-
plied the envoy. They refused to surrender a
trust which they had received from their king,
and defied the leader of the Scots to do his
woret. " Tell him," they added, " if he wishes
to win the town, to come and attack it in the
fashion of a right conqueror, when, if he is
able, he may win city and castle and all." After
this answer of defiance and contempt they bent
their ballistas and other warlike engines to
welcome the expected assailants. Instead of
spending time in an unprofitable siege for which
his army was not provided, Wallace turned his
course to the forest of Inglewood and laid waste
the country from Allerdale in Cumberland to
Derwentwater and Cockermouth. He then re-
solved to invade the county of Durham, which
was so slightly guarded at this time that it
could only muster about 3000 foot and 100 hoi-se;
but according to the old English historians Saint
C'uthbert himself was at hand to defend his
own sacred patrimony, and raised such a tempest

A.D. 1296-1298.]

of hail, snow, and frost that many of the Scots
perished from cold and hunger. Independently,
indeed, of the guardian saint of Durham, winter
had set in, and with such unwonted severity
that it was time for the Scots, who had effected
their purposes, to commence their retreat. On
their return to Hexham they found at the
monastery three canons, who after the first hos-
tile visit of the invaders had ventured to come
back to their cloisters and were repairing the
ruined oratory. Brandishing their long lances,
the foremost of the Scots rushed into tliis vio-
hited sanctuary, exclaiming, " Show us the trea-
sury of your church or you shall instantly die !"
"Alas!" replied one of the old men, trembling,
" it is not long since you and your people car-
ried off all we had ; you best know where you
have laid it up; since that time we have only
gathered the few things which you see be-
fore you." At this moment Wallace entered ;
and sternly checking the rude soldiers, he re-
quested one of the canons to celebrate mass.
This was done; but before the host was ele-
vated, Wallace, who was completely armed,
retired that he might wa.sh his hands and lay
aside his helmet and weapons before receiving
the sacred emblems. His momentary departure
was the signal for fresh violence ; his wild fol-
lowers snatched the chalice from the altar,
spoiled it of its ornaments, and even stole the
missal with which the service had been com-
menced. At his return Wallace, shocked at
the profanation, ordered the plunderers to be
searched out and executed ; " but they were not
found," adds Hemingford, " for the search that
was made was a dissembled one." "Abide with
me," he then said to the trembling monks, "and
do not leave my side, for there only you can be
safe ; my people are evil-doers whom I can
neither justify nor punish." They were indeed
evil-doers when they had plundered a monas-
tery dedicated to Saint Andrew, the patron of
Scotland, and chartered by David, the best of
its kings ! Still further to ensure the safety of
the brotherhood, Wallace, in the name of Sir
Andrew Moray and himself as joint-leaders of
the Scottish army, granted a charter of protec-
tion to the monastery, by which all its members
and property were admitted under the peace of
the King of Scotland, and all persons prohibited
from doing them injury. Having thus w;usted
the northern districts during more than three
weeks without opi)osition, Wallace led back hia
army into Scotland.

The English attempted a reprisal by an inva-
sion of Scotland in turn, and for this purpose
Lord Robert Clifford, liaviiig collected 20,000 in-
fantry and 100 hoi-se, advanced into Annandale.
But nothing was achieved by such formidable

WILLIAM WALLACE.

189

numbers which might not have been effected by a
mere band of Border freebootera, in consequence
of the blunder of Lord Clifford, who on cross-
ing the Solway made proclamation that every
soldier should plunder for himself and retain
what booty he might find. Through this rash
license the whole array was broken into loose
bands of marauders and scattered over the
country, intent on nothing but spoil, while none
kept together except the small troop of 100
horsemen. The paltry result of this expedition
was that they burned ten hamlets, killed 308
inhabitants of Aanandale, and carried off a few
captives. These exploits were so nmch to the
taste of Lord Clifford that soon after he repeated
his inroad, and with similar success, for he plun-
dered and burned the town of Annan and the
church of Gysbome, and carried off a few cap-
tives. But the only effect of these injuries was
to irritate Robert Bruce, the Lord of Annan-
dale, and drive him once more from the cause
of England into the ranks of the patriots.

The victories of Sir William Wallace, his suc-
cessful expedition into England, and the pros-
pect of a long and arduous struggle to secure
the national liberty which he had so bravely
recovered, all pointed him out as the only man
fitted for the supreme command until order
coidd be effectually restored ; and such appears
to have been the general popularity as well as
strength of tliis conviction that the jealous
nobles were compelled to acquiesce or be silent.
As far, therefore, as can be discovered or sur-
mised in such a doubtful matter as the tenure
on which Wallace held that office of regency
u|)on which he acted after his return from Eng-
land, he appears to have been invested with it
in the earlier part of the year 1298, and at a
national assembly held at the Forest Kirk in
Selkirkshire. Several of the principal nobihty
attended, among whom are mentioned the Earl
of Lennox and Sir William Douglas ; and there
he was solemnly invested in office with the title
of "Governor of Scotland, in name of King
John and by the consent of the Scottish nation."'
Let the secret murmurings of the envious be
what they might, it appeal's to have been a
national election as well as a most urgent na-
tional necessity; and he assumed office under
the name of that only sovereign whom the
kingdom as yet recognized, and" as whose lieu-
tenant he had already levied armies and granted
letters of protection. On becoming guardian
of the realm by legal election Wallace was re-
solved that the stem duties of his invidious
office should be properly exercised both in the

• Anderson's Diphmata Scotitr, No. 44; Fordun ; Craw-
ford's Uistory of tJu DougUtttt, quoted by Sir R. Sibbald.

190

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

suppression of offenders and the military de-
fence of the kingdom. One of his first acts was
to exercise his vice-regal authority by appoint-
ing Alexander Skrymgeour or Skirmishur, the
Royal Standard-bearer of Scotland, to the im-
portant office of Constable of Dimdee. He
laboured to check the wild license of his sol-
diers, and improve them by military discipline.
To place the whole kingdom in a defensible
condition and have troops in readiness for any
sudden call, he divided it into militai-y districts,
in which every serviceable man between the
age of sixteen and sixty was enrolled, and
obliged to attend the summons whether for
war or muster. And as this trenched sorely
upon the feudal usurpations of the nobility,
whose military vassals could thus be called out
for national service instead of being kept in
reserve for the personal quaiTels of their mas-
ters, Wallace controlled these nobles and com-
pelled their acquiescence by the fears of impri-
sonment.i It was no wonder that the indigna-
tion of these proud magnates was augmented
under such restrictions, and that their general
sentiment was, " We will not have this man to
reign over us."

During these disasters to the arms of England
Edward was in Flandera. But the tidings of
this Scottish revolution, upon which he could
not previously calculate, arrested him in the
midst of his continental operations, and he sent
letters to the lords of the English regency com-
manding them to muster their military retainers
and maich with all speed into Scotland under
his lieutenant, Warrenne, Earl of Surrey. The
nobles met accordingly, but it was to murmur
and remonstrate, not to obey; and they agreed
to withhold their military service until Edward
had ratified the Great Charter and the Charter of
the Forests, and prohibited the levying of taxes
without the consent of the people expressed
through the national parliament. Edward was
obliged to comply; and satisfied with these con-
cessions, the chief nobles, with the Earl Marshal
and the High Constable of England at their head,
mustered their vassals in great force at York
upon the day appointed, which was the 14th of
January (1298). The king had also written to
the Scottish nobility, commanding them on
their allegiance, and on pain of being treated
as enemies and rebels, to attend this muster at
York with all their military retainei-s; but
their di-ead of Wallace was superior to their
fear of Edward, and they failed to apj)ear. Still
the a-ssembled English force was sufficient to
overwhelm resistance without their aid, for it
numbered 100,000 foot and 2000 heavily-armed

Fonlun, lib, xi.

[a.D. 1296-129S.

cavalry; and in obedience to the king's order
they crossed the Border under the command of
the Earl of Surrey, relieved Roxburgh, which
was besieged by the Scots, and took possession
of the town of Berwick. At Roxburgh they
were joined by Edward in person, who had
hurried from Flanders to the scene of action
after having made a truce with the French
king. He was now impatient for conquest and
revenge, and having been strongly reinforced
with cavalry he gave orders to set forward ;
but to his astonishment this vast aiTay refused
to move. He had signified his assent in Flan-
ders to the demands of his nobles ; but this they
reckoned not enough; and, warned by past ex-
perience of the insecurity of their rights with-
out the most solemn sanctions, they refused to
march unless he ratified in person and upon the
spot the promises which he had transmitted
from abroad. Nor were their suspicions un-
reasonable, for Edward, instead of direct com-
pliance, gave them nothing but promises which
he had no intention to keep. Accordingly he
declared that upon his return, if he was victori-
ous over the Scots, he would grant their demands
in full ; and in the meantime Anthony Beck,
Bishop of Durham, and the Earls of Surrey,
Lincoln, and Norfolk, who were the royal sure-
ties, solemnly swore upon the soul of the king
that at his return he would fulfil his promise.
This satisfied them, and they commenced their
march. We thus perceive that Edward himself
was hampered by the same causes that impeded
the movements of Wallace; but in the resistance
of the English nobility we see a more generous
and patriotic motive than that which animated
their contemporaries of Scotland. It is inter-
esting, moreover, to mark how the sword of
Wallace, while protecting the liberties of Scot-
land, was unintentionally advancing those of
England also. Edward I. was almost as dan-
gerous an enemy to his own kingdom as to that
which he sought to conquer.

After these delays Edward marched into Scot-
land by the eastern borders; and, to make sure
of supplies for his numerous host, he directed
his fleet to sail from Berwick to the Firth of
Forth, and attend upon the movements of the
army. In the meantime Wallace had made
every preparation which his limited means
would allow for the defence for the country.
But at a crisis when the utmost of simultaneous
effort was needed, and when aU would have
been little enough to repel such an invasion, the
Scottish nobles still continued to prefer their
own personal interests, or the estates they held
in England, to the welfare of a land of which
they scarcely yet were natives ; and although
they had refused to repair to the English ren-

A.D. 1296-1298.]

WILLIAM WALLACE.

191

dezvous, they also failed to attend the Scottish
muster: their fear of Wallace was exchauged
for an equal dread of Edwaid, who was now at
hand, and they .seem to have waited the turn
of events to make terms with the winning side.
In this way even Robert Bruce, the future hero
and king, although now on the side of Scotland
on account of the invasion of his lands by Lord
Clifford, instead of repairing to the national
banner, took his post in the castle of Ayr, osten-
sibly to protect the western districts against the
invaders. The only men of rank who appear
to have responded to the summons were John
Comyu of Badenoch, the younger; Sir John
Stewart of Bonkill, brother of the Stewart of
Scotland; Macduff, the grand uncle of the Earl
of Fife ; and Sir John Graham of Abercorn.
The utmost that Wallace could effect was a
defensive war, and for this his preparations
were a model of military skill, and served for
ages afterwards as the best defence of the coun-
try. Instead of risking a hopeless encounter
with such an overwhelming enemy, his plan
was to retreat slowly before their advance,
wasting the districts as he retired, and gar-
risoning the places of strength, so that the
English, even though they should march into
the heart of the kingdom, would be compelled
to a ruinous retreat from the impossibility of
finding subsistence. It was then that his light-
armed troops would be able to act with fuU
effect by hanging upon the rear of the invaders,
assailing them at every point of advantage, and
wasting them in detail. In this way, as was
shown by the events of later periods, without a
pitched battle, the half of that resistless army
might have melted away before it reached its
home in England.

Edward continued his march into Scotland
through Berwickshire until he came to Temple-
liston (now called Kirkliston), near Edinburgh,
without seeing the Scottish army or meeting
with any resistance. Here he halted, expecting
the tardy arrival of his ships, for his army was
now distressed from want of provisions, which
had been carefully removed by the Scots as he
.advanced, and he even began to make prepara-
tions for a retreat. It was necessary for this
purpose to secure the strong castle of Dirleton
and two other strongholds, the garrisons of
which were already assailing the rear of his
army and cutting oft' his foraging parties, and
he sent the Bishop of Durham to reduce them.
But the warlike prelate after a siege of several
days, in which he was gallantly resisted by tlie
garrisons, being unable from want of battering
engines to make any impression upon the walls,
despatclietl Sir John Marmaduke to the king
for further advice. " Return to Anthony Beck,"

said Edward, "and tell him that though it is
right to be scrupulous as a bishop, there is no
need of his pious scruples in deeds of this de-
scription. But you," he added, complimenting
the messenger, " are a man right pitiless, whom
I have often been obliged to check for over-
much cruelty, and triumphing over fallen ene-
mies. Now, however, return, and be as merci-
less as you please, for, instead of rebuking, I
will laud you for doing so. But beware how
you appear before me again without having
razed these three castles." Having given the
messenger thLs hopeful charge, the king blessed
him and sent him back to the bishop,^ who by
this time was enabled to execute the royal com-
mission through the arrival of three ships laden
with provisions. The garrison of Dirleton
yielded upon terms of security to life and limb,
and the other two castles were abandoned to
the English after being set on fire by their
defenders.

In the meantime the situation of Edward was
critical. A month had already been wasted, but
nothing achieved. A single victory, of which his
ample means ensured him, would suffice to crush
the rebels ; but of the place where they were
encamped he could learn no tidings. The coun-
try was laid waste before and around him, and
while his mighty host was already half con-
quered by famine he looked wistfully seaward
for his fleet, but in vain, for it had been de-
tained by contrary winds. At length a few
ships an-ived with a scanty store of food, a lai-ge
share of which was dealt out to the Welsh
troops, who had suffered most severely from
hunger, and to it the king bountifully added a
supply of wine ; but this drink, acting upon the
empty stomachs and fiery brains of the ill-used
and enslaved Cambro-Britons, drove them into
downright madness, under which they made a
furious night attack upon the English quarters,
and murdered eighteen priests and wounded
many others. Emaged at this, the English
horsemen charged the drunken rabble-rout, and
put them to flight after cutting down eighty of
their number. On the morning Edward was
told that the Welsh, who were 40,(X10 strong,
were in full mutiny, and had resolved to go
over to the Scots. "What niattere it," cried the
proud, stout-hearted king, " though my enemies
should join with my enemies, since both are
foes alike! Let them depart when they please,
for I hope, with the help of God, to chastise
both the one and the other in a single day."
On learning this the Welsh abode in the en-
campment, but apart from the English, upon
whom, it was believed, they meant to fall as

> "Dataque benedicUone, dismisit eam."— Hemingford.

192

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1296-1298.

soon ;is the Scottish army had advanced. So
critical was now the situation of Edward that
in a few days more he must have commenced a
ruinous retreat, but for the treachery of Patrick,
Earl of Dunbar, and the Earl of Angus. These
Scottish uobles at the earliest dawn of the 21st
of July repaired privately to the Bishop of
Durham's quarter, and not daring personally
to appear before Edward, as they had ostensibly
joined the patriotic party, they sent a young
page to inform him that Wallace and his ai'my
were encamped not far off in the Forest of
Falku'k, and that they meant to surprise him
by a night attack, or at least to harass him iu
retreat. "Praise be to God, who tiU now has
freed me from every difficulty!" cried the king,
rejoiced at the tidings : "they shall not need to
follow me, since I shall set out forthwith to
meet them." He instantly gave orders that all
should arm, without announcing whither they
were to march, and was himself the first to
buckle on his armour and mount his war-steed.
He also commanded the suttlers and traffickers
of the camp to pack up their wares and follow
the march. At three o'clock the army left
Kirkliston, wondering at this new movement
and ignorant of its course; and on reaching
Linlithgow they there halted for the night, each
soldier lying down upon the ground in his
armour with his shield for a pillow, and every
horseman having his horee still equipped beside
him. At midnight a cry of treason arose ; for
the royal destrier, which had been intrusted to
the careless keeping of a boy, had trod upon
the king as he slept and severely bruised him:
his soldiers started to their weapons, thinking
that the enemy was upon them, and all was
confusion untU the cause of the alarm was
known. As it was near morning the march was
resumed, and after having passed through Lin-
lithgow near sunrise they saw the glitter of
lances upon the distant hills, which fell back at
their approach, for it was only an advanced
guard of the Scottish army; but on taking pos-
session of the heights the English saw the army
itself making prompt arrangements for battle.
Through the treachery of the earls their place
of encampment had been betrayed, and the
English had stolen upon them by a silent and
unexpected march. Wallace saw that his plan
was defeated, that even retreat was impossible,
and he calmly prepared for battle as the only
alternative.

The English army to the number of 100,000
men, of whom more than 15,000 were cavalry,
were now arrayed against 30,000 Scots. As
these were almost wholly infantry, and inferior
in their equipments to the enemy, Wallace
availed himself to the utmost of every advan-

tage which their mode of warfare and the nature
of the ground could afford. He divided his
troops into four bodies, called schiltrons, of
which the front line kneeled and presented their
long spears oliliquely, while the lances of those
behind rose, tier over tier, as they stood in such
close array that they resembled a stone rampart.
In this way only they could hope to resist the
overwhelming charges of the English cavalry.
Between the intervals of these schiltrons the
Scottish archers were posted; and behind them
in the rear were drawn up their horse, which
amounted only to 1000, and could therefore
merely act as a protection to the infantry.
These, indeed, according to the military reckon-
ing of the times, were the elite of the Scottish
army, for they were of chivah-ous rank and
equipments; but besides their small number as
compared to the enemy, they could not be
trusted, as they were the allies and retainers of
those nobles who had joined the army on com-
pulsion, and would be ready to desert it, or turn
against it. Having finished his aiTangements,
Wallace made to his troops that brief address
of wliich so many versions have been handed
down that the true one cannot be discovei-ed.
He either bade them merrily to dance their
best, as they were now in the ring — or to flinch
if they dared, seeing the enemy was now in
front of them.

Having heard mass, Edward proposed that
the tents .should be pitched and the soldiers
refreshed before commencing the onset; but
from this he was dissuaded by his chief officei's,
as the Scots were at hand, while only a rivulet
parted the two armies. "What shall we do
then ? " he asked. " Let us ride against them,
iu the name of the Lord," they cried, " since
ours is the field and oui-s the victory!" "Be it
so then," he replied, "in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."'
The English van, under the command of the
earl -marshal and the Earls of Hereford and
Lincoln, marched to the encounter in a direct
line ; but their extended array was interrupted
by a moss or peat-bog in front of the Scottish
army, along the side of which they were obliged
to defile to the west. The second line, over whose
numerous array thirty-six banners floated, next
advanced under the command of the wailike
Bishop of Durham; and on discovering the
obstacle of the bog, began to make a cautious
circuit eastward. This was too much for the
third line, already impatient for action; and
Ralph Basset of Drayton, one of its leaders,
shouted to the prelate as he paused at the quag-

1 This mixture of religious and warlike phraseology,
which was characteristic of tlie period, is carefully pre-
served hy Heniingford.

A.D. 1298-1305.]

mire, " Hold to your mass, bishop, instead of
teaching us our duty in front of an enemy."
" Set on, then, in your own fashion," cried the
bishop ; " we are all soldiers to-day, and must
do our utmost." They drove through the bog
and assailed the foremost schiltron ; while the
first line, that had surmounted the difficulty,
also entered into action. It was a torrent of
man, and horse, and heavy mail, and axe and
sword, such as had never before swept down
upon a Scottish phalanx to test its firmness to
the uttermost. And nobly did the schiltrons
endure it. The 1000 Scottish horse that were
drawn up in the rear fled without striking a
blow; the gallant archers of Selkirk, placed in
the intervals between the schUtrons, rallied
round their leader. Sir John Stewart of Bonkill,
when he was thrown to the ground, and per-
ished in his defence ; while the tall, handsome,
athletic forms of these brave men, who had
fallen each in the place where he fought, called
forth, when the battle had ended, the admira-
tion of their enemies. But the Scottish masses,
though thus uncovered and inclosed, continued
the desperate conflict, and presented to the
fierce mail-clad riders of England an unyielding
rampart of spears through which they could not
penetrate. The skill of Wallace had drawn them
up, and the soul of Wallace animated their re-
sistance. Enraged at the length and obstinacy
of the conflict Edward brought up his reserves
and assailed the serried ranks of the Scots by
a mode of attack which they had no means of
requiting; his archers and slingers discharged
their missiles among them, and under these
destructive volleys large gaps were opened

WAR OF INDEPENDENX'E.

193

through which the English cavalry dashed with
loosened rein. After this resistance was at an
end or hopeless, and all that Wallace could
effect was to secure a retreat to the neighbour-
ing wood, having left half of his army dead on
the field. This loss has been extravagantly
magnified by English chroniclers, some making
it amount to 50,000 or even 60,000 men; but it is
certain that scarcely less than 15,000 must have
perished. What was almost of equal account was
that the three best and most steadfast of the Scot-
tish patriots of rank and influence, who abode by
the cause of their country when their compeers
had deserted it, were numbered with the slain
at Falkirk. Tliese were Sir John Stewart of
Bonkill ; MacduflT, the grand uncle of the Earl
of Fife, who brought the retainers of his nephew
into the field ; and Sir John Graham, whom
tradition has affectionately commemorated as
the " fidus Achates " of Wallace, and next to
him the bravest champion and truest heart in
Scotland. Who they were who fled from the
field as soon as the firet onset was given can-
not now be ascei-tained, and therefore to their
memory must still be conceded the full benefit
of oblivion. The English chronicles, that repre-
sent so plentiful a slaughter of the Scots in this
engagement, make amends by their clemency
to the other side, of whom they tell us few fell,
and oidy one man of note; this was Sir Bryan de
Jaye, the Master of the Scottish Templars, who
was slain in the pursuit while he too eagerly
pressed upon the fugitives. This memorable
battle of Falkirk, so fatal in its consequences
to Scotland, was fought on the 22d of July,
1298.

CHAPTER IV.

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, FROM THE BATTLE OF FALKIRK TO THE EXECUTION OP
WALLACE (1298-1305).

Progress of Edward I. in Scotland after the battle of Falkirk — Is obliged to make a speedy retreat — His
injudicious disposal of Scottish estates — Baliol's conduct in prison during the war — He is dismissed by
Edward to France — Wallace resigTis his guardianship of Scotland — His surmised movements after his
resignation — Tlie Scots elect new guardians — Edward unsuccessfully invades Scotland — He repeats the
invasion — Strange claim of the pope over Scotland — He orders Edward to acknowledge it — Controversy
between Edwar<l and the pojw about their respective rights to Scotland — Answers of Edward and the
English parliament — Edward again invades Scotland, and retreats without battle — The pope and the
French king abandon the interests of Scotland — Treachery of the French king to his Scottish allies — The
English invade Scotland — They sustain three defeats in one day at RosHn — Edward enters Scotland— He
captures the castle of Brechin — He defeats the Scots at Stirling — Wallace refuses to surrender himself to
Edward — He is outlawed and proscribed— Edward besieges the castle of Stirling — Its surrender — Wallace
betrayed to the English — His trial and execution.

After his victory of Falkirk the progress of 1 wliose arms nothing could resist. Wallace with
Edward I. in Scotland was that of a conqueror | the remains of his army had retreated from Fal-

194

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1298-1305.

kirk to Stirling, where he endeavoured to rally
and renew the war ; but, unable to maintain the
town against the English, who followed closely on
his track, he on the fourth day burned both town
and castle and continued his retreat. Edward
entered Stirling, now a heap of ashes except
the Dominican convent, which had escaped ;
and here he took up his residence to recover
from the efl'ects of the severe bruise which he
had received on the night before the battle of
Falkirk. During his short stay at this place he
caused the castle to be repaired and garrisoned,
and sent a strong body of troops across the
Forth to i-avage the districts of Clackmannan,
Menteith, and Fife, which they did with gi"eat
severity. The latter county seems to have been
the especial mark of their vengeance on account
of the aid which had been given by Macduff
and his vassals to Wallace at Falkirk; and
accordingly military execution was inflicted
upon the inhabitants in its fullest extent with
fire and sword. St. Andrews, which the Eng-
lish found deserted, was given to the flames,
and the richest of the Scottish districts was
quickly reduced to a wilderness. Unable to
subsist in the county they had thus wasted, the
English then advanced to Perth, but found
that the Scots had anticipated their arrival by
setting fire to the town ; and thus, in a more
hungry condition than they had set out, they
hastily returned to Stirling.

Edward, having now recovered from his ail-
ments, was impatient for the arrival of his fleet
with provisions from Berwick, and in the hope
of meeting it he proceeded from Stirling to
Abercorn; but the winds were still contrary
and not a ship appeared. Disappointed and
impatient, he marched to Glasgow, and after-
wards proceeded towards Ayr, the castle of
which was in the custody of Robei't Bruce,
whom he was desirous to call to a strict reck-
oning for his late equivocal movements; but
Bruce, who liked neither the subject nor the
catechist, eschewed the meeting by setting fire
to the castle and escaping into the wdds of Gal-
loway. The king followed, being still eager for
an interview with his refractory pupil, which
in all likelihood would have changed the whole
current of Scottish history; but the famine
which Wallace had prepared for the enemy so
eff'ectually saved the Bruce that Edward was
obliged to make a hasty return through Annan-
dale after wreaking his resentment by the cap-
ture of Bruce's castle of Lochmaben. In all
these marches Edward, wherever he turned,
seemed still to be confronted with the presence
of the Scottish guardian, from the impossibility
of subsisting his troops, so that in spite of his
victory he was obliged to retreat from a country

that lay prostrate at his feet. It was now, in-
deed, that the wisdom of Wallace's plan was
apparent, and which would have been success-
ful but for the treachery that compelled him to
abide the late encounter. All that Edward ob-
tained by his victory was an unmolested retreat
to Carlisle through the western borders, thus
leaving Scotland almost wholly in the same
state as he found it.

On reaching Carlisle and putting his famine-
worn troops into cantonment, the King of Eng-
land was speedily beset by a Scottish difliculty
of his own creation. He there called a parlia-
ment ; and although at the present period only
a small portion of Scotland could be called his
own, he proceeded to reward his friends and
pimish his enemies by assigning the estates of
several of the Scottish lords to his own fol-
lowers. By this rash deed the former were
turned irrevocably into patriots and good Scots-
men, while the latter wei-e little gratified by a
grant of possessions which were neither his to
give nor theii-s to enjoy. These, however, the
historian is careful to inform us were only
given " in hope." The same writer gives a par-
ticidar instance of Edward's princely liberality
in such kind of donations. One of those un-
scrupulous military adventurers with which the
age abounded, called Thomas Bisset, had come
from Ireland to the island of Arran, to the aid,
as was commonly reported, of the Scots, and
under that character appears to have taken
possession ; but no sooner did he hear of the
defeat of the Scots at Falkirk than he applied
to Edward, declaring that he had come to assist
the English, and had conquered Arran in their
name ; and his request was that the island
should be granted in possession to him and his
heirs after him. Edward had readily acceded
to this request at Lochmaben, and Bisset the
adventurer was confirmed in this fair lordship.
But in this instance, as in those that afterwards
were repeated at Carlisle, the king had violated
a solemn compact made with the earl-marshal
and the Earl of Hereford that he would confer
no new grants without their advice and consent.
This was not the first ground of quarrel between
Edward and these powerful nobles; and the
latter, indignant at the fi-esh breach of promise,
returned home with all their followers imder
the pretext that their men and hoi-ses were
worn out and needed repose.

Amidst these disastei-s and changes in Scot-
land, by which the country had been alter-
nately enslaved and liberated, our thoughts
naturally revert to that phantom king Baliol
in whose name the struggle for liberty had been
maintained, but who the while had been a
prisoner in the Tower of London. After a

A.D. 1298-1305.]

year's captivity a gleam of hope, the promise of
deliverance, lighted his cell, from the interven-
tion of the King of France, who, in the truce
which he made with Edward I., endeavoured
to have the Scots included in the treaty. He
therefore proposed that John Baliol as his ally
should be set free ; that all the other Scottish
prisoners in England should be sent home on the
delivery of hostages, and that all the inhabi-
tants of Scotland of whatever degree and hold-
ing should share in the beneiits of the truce.
But Edward was in no temper to forego his
liold on Scotland, or allow the Scots to escape
unjnmished ; and as he was already raising an
army for their fined subjugation he sent an eva-
sive answer to PhOip craving time for delibera-
tion, instead of a direct refusal, and continued
his military preparations. That period of leisure
came after his victory of Falkirk, and his answer
was what might have been expected. The alli-
ance, he said, between Scotland and France had
been deliberately and freely renounced by the
former, which country could therefore claim
nothing from it. To this it was objected by the
French king that this renunciation had been
obtained through force and fear ; but Edward,
who had now the rights of a victor, stood firmly
upon his refusal. In the meantime Baliol him-
self had shown that he was unworthy of liberty
by the contemptible shifts he had used to obtain
it. He declared that he renounced all inter-
course with the Scots ; that he had found them
a false and treasonable people; and that he had
good cause to suspect they intended to poison
him. These professions, however, seem to have
availed him as little as the interposition of his
roy;d ally of France, for he still remained in-
closed in the Tower. At lengtli Pope Boni-
face VIII., at the instance of Philij), applied in
behalf of the discrowned captive, and his appeal
was successful; but even then Edward consented
with murnniriug and reluctance. " I will send
Haliol to the pope," he spitefully excLaimed, "as
a perjured man and a seducer of the people."
The King of Scots was accordingly marched for
deportation to Whitsand, near Calais ; and be-
fore he was suffered to embark his baggage and
mails were rummaged, that he might cany no
contraband matter forth from England. In this
search a considerable sum of money was found,
which was allowed to pass free as his own pri-
vate property ; but the great seal of Scotland,
which was laid up with his treasure, was seized
and retained, as was also a golden crown, which
Edward hung up in the shrine of St. Thomas
of I 'anterbm-y. Thusthoroughlydenuded, Baliol
was suffered to depart in peace to France, where
he took up his abode at Bailleul, the original
seat of his family before it became English,

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

195

Scotch, or royal, and there he spent the rest of
his obscure life. As for his English estates
these Edward, in a sudden fit of generosity and
in consequence of the pope's apphcation, had
resolved to remit to the impoverished exile; but
on further thoughts he retained them all in his
own possession, and some years afterwards be-
stowed them upon John Count of Bretagne, his
own nephew.'

But a greater and better man than Baliol
disappeared about the same time from public
life, and became an exile and a wanderer. This
was Sir William Wallace, whose career had
hitherto been so romantic and so wonderful.
In little more than the brief space of a year
the stripling hero, without birth, without rank,
without political influence, had won his way
from obscurity to imperishable renown, and
from the condition of a hunted outlaw among
the mountains to that of the ruler of the land
and the commander of its armies — had raised
the hearts of the people from the depths of de-
spair to the height of heroic daring — had swept
away, as with an irresistible storm, the net-work
of garrisons with which the whole land was
inclosed — and without instructors to train, or
past experience to enlighten him, had displayed
a military skill that outgeneralled the best
leaders of the age, as well as a political sagacity
which, if left to itself, might have established
the liberty he had won, and antedated the period
when his counti-y was to become great and happy
as well as free. Of no other land is the history
of its national hero so unpromising at its com-
mencement, and yet so glorious ; so brief in
point of time, and yet so lasting in its effects.
A biography of which such is the summary, can
easily resign those romantic particulare with
which it has been filled to the cavils of the cold-
hearted or queries of the doubtful, and yet find
in it enough of the great and the wonderful.
But where was Widlace now, after that one
defeat which the guile and treachery of his false
supporters had made inevitable i After the
battle of Falkirk he was as ready as ever to
continue the war; and from the precautions he
hail previously adopted he well knew that
Edward, in spite of his victory, would be com-
pelled to make a hasty retreat. But the envy
of the nobles was as intense as ever, and after
that disastrous conflict it could make itself be
more effectually heard. Instead, therefore, of
being able to levy a fresh muster, the Guardian
of Scotland w;»s threatened with impeachment;
and foremost among his accusers were the
Comyns and the Bruces, the two most powerful
families in Scotland. It was evident that at

' Rymer'a Fcedtra; Wslaingham ; Frjmne'a Editard I.

196

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1298-1305.

every step his leadership would be thwarted;
that the war for liberty would degenerate into
a wasteful civil conflict of feuds and factions;
and aware of this, Wallace resigned his office
and retired into private life.' Here Scottish
history generally loses sight of him tUl the
period of his execution seven yeai-s afterwards.
But it is impossible to imagine that during
this period he remained in Scotland unnoticed
by friend or enemy, or that he utterly aban-
doned those patriotic laboure for which at last
he laid down his life. The general tradition,
therefore, as embodied in our oldest histories,
is that he repaired to France, whose alliance
had already cost Scotland so dear ; and that at
the French court he endeavoured to obtain by
negotiation that aid for his country which he
was no longer permitted to give by action in
the field. ^ It is the simplest mode of account-
ing for the entire disappearance of Wallace from
the scene; and yet it has become the fashion to
discard it, from the contemptuous indifference
with which these early authorities have been
treated by modern investigation. Recent dis-
coveries, however, have established the fact, and
vindicated the truthfidness of our early cherished
traditions; and from these we may assume as
historical facts the following particulars in the
Scottish champion's eventful career.

After the defeat of Falkirk and his own ab-
dication of office Sir William Wallace saw that
there was no hope of national deliverance in the
selfish and divided nobility. He therefore re-
solved to apply to Philip le Bel, who not only
owed a debt of gratitude to Scotland, but had
a long account of injiu-ies to settle with Edwai'd
and the English nation. He accordingly em-
barked for France with a few brave com-
panions, who, like himself, preferred exile to a
home in which they could be no longer free.
Even his voyage was not without adventures;
and while one of our oldest authorities men-
tions in general terms that he cleared the sea of
pirates, and was celebrated in the French songs
and ballads of the day,' another embodies in
heroic rhyme his capture of the terrible Red
Rover, who at the close of the thirteenth cen-
tury was an imitator of the vikingr of the
eleventh.'' Such an encounter upon the high
seas was perfectly consistent with the condition
of the period ; and on arriving at the French
court this exploit of Wallace, by which he had
rid their coasts of a destructive enemy to their
merchandise, would enhance the welcome which
his recent renown and deeds against the English

^Wyntoun; Fordun.

* Cupar and Perth MS. quoted in Goodall's Fordun, lib. xi
cap. 34, 35. Henrj' the Minstrel.
» MSS. Cup. et Per in Fordun. * Henry the Minstrel

had already ensured. But this flattering prospect
was quickly overcast. Philip was one of those
politicians who never allow the claims either of
private gratitude or abstract justice to interfere
with their plans for the public good ; and the
change of events had now made it evident that
an alliance with the powerful Edward would
be more profitable to France than a chivalrous
defence of Scotland and its fugitive hero. The
Flemings, aided by Edward, were in revolt
against Philip just as the Scots were against
the King of England; and the proposal between
these two selfish potentates was, that each shoidd
leave the enslaved country to the tender mercies
of the other, so that while Edward withdrew his
help from Flandei-s, the French king was to give
no aid to Scotland. Philip entered so cordially
into this compact that he threw Wallace into
prison, and sent a letter to Edward advertising
him of the fact, and offering to surrender the
Scottish hero to his keeping. Edward gladly
accepted the offer, and the fate of Wallace was
apparently sealed. But either a touch of com-
punction, or what is more likely, a change in
his prospects of advantage, withheld the hands
of Philip, so that, instead of surrendering Wal-
lace he released him from prison, and furnished
him with credentials to his agents residing in
Rome.^ To Rome accordingly Wallace may be
supposed to have repaired, in the devout hope
that his just appeal in beludf of Scotland would
obtain a more favourable hearing from the
reverend father of Christendom than from the
selfish potentates of France and England. It
was his last resource, and he would not leave it
untried. It was the refuge of the destitute when
secular arms had faUed, and its mandates had
more than once ai-rested the progress of a con-
queror. Even the quick natural sagacity of the
young Scot may have taught him that Rome
could scai'cely desire the aggi'andizement of such
a restive vassal as Edward I., and might be in-
clined to check him with Scotland as a counter-
poise. Thither, therefore, it is hkely that he
went, not as a public functionary or accredited
agent, but as a private suppliant, or even as a
fugitive from prison, and instructed in no case
to show the pa.ssport of the French king in be-
half of " our beloved William le Waloys of Scot-
land, knight," except in urgent extremity. And
yet this document at last found its way to the
possession of Edward I. himself, who must have
read it with no very friendly feelings towards
his royal brother Philip. It would be curious
to learn the progress' of Wallace as a negotiator
among Italian priests and cardinals, and how

^ Document found in the Record Office of the Tower of
London, and published in the Wallace Papers, Maitland
Club Series, No. xvii p. 103.

A.D. 1298-1305.]

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

197

much the half-forgotten Latin which his uncle
had taught him may have stood him iu good
stead. It may be that his representations
mainly influenced that interference in behalf of
Scotland which Boniface VIII. attempted, and
which might have been available with any other
king than Edwai'd I. of England. But, finding
after months or years of hope deferred that his
labours were in vain, the heart-broken jjatriot
turned Jjis back upon the grandeur of the
" Eternal City," and the bright skies and fair
scenery of Italy, that he might become once
more a hunted fugitive among his own native
hills, and die for the land which he could no
longer save.

We now return to the regular couree of public
events in Scotland. On the abdication of the
guardianship by Sir William Wallace a new
regency was chosen, which consisted of William
Lamberton Bishop of St. Andrews, Robert
Bruce Earl of Carrick, and John Comyu the
younger of Badenoch. These held their office as
Guardians of Scotland in the name of Baliol; but
how Brace consented to forego his royal preten-
sions by acting under such authority is one of
those inconsistencies in the early life of that
hero which we are unable to explain. As yet,
thanks to the etibrts of Wallace, Scotland wixs
free, and the new guaidians were ready to con-
tinue the war. Enraged at this unexpected de-
cision, Edward, although gi'eatly weakened by
the departure of the Earls of Norfolk and Here-
ford, i-esolved to return and effect the entire
subjugation of Scotland. He would, indeed,
have repeated his c<impaigns at once had not
the season been too far advanced; but during
the following spring and summer he hastened
liis preparations for a conquest that should be
liual and complete. Even his disputes with his
barons, who now felt their importance and stood
boldly out for their rights, could not make him
alter his purpose. Being a widower, one of his
politic projects was to detach France from the
interests of Scotland by a marriage with the
sister of the French king ; and having effected
this in September (1299) he appointed his troops
to muster at York, made a ])ilgriniage to the
shrine of St. Alban, and ordered prayera to be
otl'ered up in all the churches of his kingdom
for the success of his enterprise. In the moan-
time the Scottish guardians had ah-eady com-
menced operations by besieging the castle of
Stirling, which the English garrison was too
^niall to maintain for any lengtii of time; and
I'dward, awaro of this, and grudging to lose
this token of his hold upon Scotland, w.'ia
an.xious to relieve it. The Guardians of Scot-
land, who had assembled their army at Tor-
wood, alarmed at these formidable prepaiatious,

endeavoured to avert the storm by negotiation;
and adverting to the truce which had lately
been formed between the Kings of England and
France, they oflered to suspend theii- militai-y
operations if Edward would follow the example.
But the latter was too resolute and had gone
too far to pause midway, and without vouch-
safing to reply to the application he hastened
to York to open his parliament and commence
the new northern campaign.

The military muster that had repaired to that
city was so numerous and so well appointed as
to give every promise of success ; the greater
barons were in attendance with their numerous
retainei-s, and the pojailous county had sup-
plied its full contingents of militia; there was
every promise of a greater victory than that of
Falkirk, moi-e especially when the great Scot-
tish leader was no longer to oppose them. To
prevent every kind of uiinece.ssary delay and
keep his troops iu hand for instant action, Ed-
wai'd issued strict proclamations that duiing
the war there should be no tournaments, no
weapon-shows, no wandering from headquar-
ters upon adventure except by his ordei-s ; and
though it wiis now the beginning of November,
with the full promise of a severe noithern win-
ter, he marched to Berwick-on-Tweed. But
here the mai'ch suddenly paused and the cam-
paign was ended, for the barons refused to
proceed. Notwithstanding his many promises
Edw-ard had eluded the due fulfilment of their
privileges, as secured by the Great Charter and
the forest laws ; and now that they were in
arms and at the head of their own vassals, their
season for resentment and remonstrance had
arrived. Without adducing, however, the real
causes of their discontent, they alleged the
severe winter, the impassable nature of the
northern roads, and the difficulty of obtaining
provisions as the dissuasives from further opera-
tions; and having done this, they marched to
their own homes and left the royal banner in
its solitude. In spite of this desertion Edward
miirched forwaixl at the head of the small force
that still abode with 1dm; but on learning the
strong position of the Scottish army at Toi-wood
he saw the hopelessness of the enterprise and
prudently desisted, after ordering the garrison
of Stirling to capitulate and surrender the castle
to the Scots.

In the following year (1300) and during the
summer Edward once more invaded Scotland
by the western marches, but with almost as
little effect as on the previous occasion, for Uie
Scots, taught by fatal ex])erience, )irudently
confined themselves to that defensive system of
warf;u-e for which the nature of the country
was so well adapted. They therefore skilfully

198

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1298-1305.

selected tlieir ground where tliey could not
safely be attacked, and shunned a general ac-
tion, so that Edward menaced an enemy whom
he could not reach. In addition to the useless-
ness of his powerful cavah-y, that could not act
among the bogs, rocks, and mountains by which
the Scots were intrenched, his Welsh auxiliaries,
who were accustomed to such a mode of war-
fare, refused, as they had done at Falkirk, to
give theii" hearty co-operation, and thus the
enemy remained unassailed.' All that Edward
could accomplish, therefore, during this profit-
less campaign, which lasted five months, was to
lay waste Annandale and receive the submis-
sion of the inhabitants of Galloway. As winter
was at hand he was now in a mood to listen to
overtures which at the commencement of the
invasion he had scornfully rejected, and pre-
tending to accede to the earnest wishes of the
French king in their behalf, he granted to the
Scots a truce which was to last till Whitsunday
in the following year. He also set Wishart,
Bishop of Glasgow, who had long been his pri-
soner, at liberty after receiving anew his oaths
of allegiance. After these concessions Edward
left his headquarters of Dumfries in the begin-
ning of November and returned to England.

Such peaceful proceedings were so little in
accordance with the character of the English
king that this unwonted cessation must be
traced to other causes than Edward's courtesy
towards the King of France, or even the grow-
ing difficulties of the invasion. So fixed, indeed,
was his resolution to conquer Scotland and
annex it to the English crown, that he felt as if
without it neither life could give him pleasure
nor death itself repose. But a new claimant for
Scotland had unexpectedly entered into the
field, whom he must encounter and if possible
overcome before he proceeded on his course, and
this rival was no other than the pope ! At the
commencement of this year the Scottish ridei-s
had sent a commission to Eome to represent the
unjust and oppressive conduct of Edward to-
wards Scotland and to crave the interposition
of the pontiff. Boniface VIII. did, indeed, in-
terpose, but it was according to the tactics of
the Roman conclave; he had discovered that
Scotland belonged to Rome, and therefore could
never become the property of England. He
accordingly sent a bull to England which Win-

1 After describing the behaviour of the Welsh at Falliiik,
who stood upon a liill until the battle was over, the French
Metrical Chronicle, translated into English by Kobert de
Brunne, thus characterizes these allies in general :—
"Was neuer withouten gile Walsh man no Breton.
For thei were euer in wone, men so of tham told,
Whilk was best bauere, with that side forto hold.
Saint Bede sais it for lore, and I say it in rj-me,
Walsh man salle neuer more lul Inglis man no tyme. "

Chelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, was requii'ed
to present to the king without delay; and as
Edward was at present in the wilds of Galloway
the English primate had to undertake the dan-
gerous journey in person. An account which
he aftei-wards wrote to the pontiff of this most
perilous pilgiimage across the sands of Solway
and to Caerlaverock, the roaring floods he had
passed through, and the bands of Scottish rob-
bers thirsting for English blood whom he had
escaped, would form a valuable episode for a
volume of English hagiology.- After three days
of struggle the weary messenger reached his
sovereign's camp and presented the bull, which
being written in Latin he was also obliged to
translate. In this singular manifesto Edward
was informed that his claims to the superiority
of Scotland were naught, because that ancient
kingdom had belonged, and did still belong, to
the see of Rome. An investigation was also
made into his (Edward's) feudal rights over
Scotland, and a historical refutation of them
given, which must have been gall and wormwood
to the royal listener. The pope then established
his own claims and rights by those arguments
which simple laymen and ultramontanes found
difficult to refute, and often too hard to under-
stand ; and Edward was finally required, as a
token of his submission, to set free the Scottish
ecclesiastics whom he had imprisoned, and to
withdraw all his officei-s from Scotland whom
he had appointed to govern the kingdom under
him. He was also required, if he had any pre-
tensions to all or any part of Scotland, to send
his proctora to Rome within six months, when
the pope would himself hear and determine the
case according to the rules of equity; and in
order that Edward might be assured of full
justice being done Boniface added, "I take the
cause under my own particular cognizance."^
He thus made himself the judge of a trial in
which he was also the plaintiff! When this
astounding manifesto was ended the archbisho]i
rounded the papal mandate by a ghostly and
unctuous exhortation ; he ad^"ised the king to
yield dutifid submission ; and reminded him
how Jerusalem would not fail to protect her
citizens, and Mount Zion to cherish those who
put theii- trust in the Lord.

It would be impossible to describe the aston-
ishment and rage of Edward at the aiTOgance of
the pope and the haixlihood of his own arch-
bishop; it was the more mortifying as the charge
was delivered in the presence of his assembled
nobles and warriors; and starting up, he ex-

2 The letter is contained in full in Prynne's Edward I. ,
book V. chap. 4, p. 8S2.

3 RjTuer's Fcedera, vol. i. part 2, p. 907; et Prynne's
Ed. I., p. 879.

A.D. 1298-1305.]

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

199

claimed iu a voice of tlumder, "By God's blood !
I will not be silent for the sake of Ziou, nor
rest in peace on account of Jerus;dem, whUe
there is breath in my nostrils, but will show to
the whole world, which knows my right, that I
am also able to defend it."' Some days after,
when his ii'e had cooled, it was blown into fresh
fury by the Scots, who, trusting in the papal
protection, requested liim to suspend liis pro-
ceedings untQ theu- ndei-s had consulted with
the King of France. " Wliat man of you," he
cried, " who ha.s done me homage as his liege
lord of Scotland can think me so gullible or so
weak as to abandon my right which I hold over
you ? Beware how you appear before me again
with such a message ! If you do, I swear by
the Lord that I will lay waste aU Scotland
from sea to sea."^ But when second thoughts
prevailed Edward was well aware that these
new claims of the pope were not to be averted
by angry tlireats and assertions, and he pre-
pared for the encounter with those aids and
weapons that gave him the only chance of suc-
cess. On returning home, therefore, he dis-
banded his army and commenced an active
muster of casuists and documents. He ordered
a full parliament to assemble at Lincoln upon
the ensuing term of St. HUaiy, of which the
special summons to peers, prelates, and com-
mons bore that they were called to defend the
rights of his crown against this new claim of
the papacy. He issued special writs to several
deans, archdeacons, and other learned scholars,
enjoining and commanding them without fail
to repair to Lincoln, to advise with the lawyers
and othera of his council concerning his right
to the realm of Scotland. He ordered the Chan-
cellor and University of Oxford to send four or
five of their most discreet and expert scholare
iu the written law to confer with him and his
counselloi-s upon the great question at issue,
while the Univei-sity of Cambridge was required
to send two or three similar scholars for the
same purjwse. He also issued writs to several
abbots, prioi's, deans, and chapters, to search
diligently amongst all the chronicles, archives,
and private documents of their institutions,
tliat they might find whatever could touch in
any way upon the said kingdom of Scotland.
.Vnd never, ]ierhap3, was there such an anti-
'inariau exploration iu England either before
or since ; for the fate of a kingdom was at
stake, anil Scotland was to be fought and won
by a campaign of old parchments !

The period at length arrived; the jiarliament
wa.s held at Lincoln — and very strange to the

' Walsinghani. p. 78; Prynne, Edxcanl I., p. 87&
'Prynne, Ed. I., p. 878.

nostrils of knight and baron must have been the
diist of this new battle-field. The result, how-
ever, was, that they proved to their own entire
satisfaction the feudal superiority of England
over Scotland, and this conclusion, with the
giounds on which it rested, Edward transmitted
in a long letter to the pope. We could scarcely
believe that he kept his countenance whUe he
indited it, did we not know how earnest he was
for the possession of Scotland, and how im-
pHeitly under such a feeling the heart can admit
the veriest shadows as full and substantial proofs.
He went back to the days of EU and Samuel,
the judges of Israel, when a certain brave and
illustrious Trojan called Brutus arrived iu Bri-
tain, and having slain the giants by which it
was inhabited, took possession of the whole
island, and afterwards parted it among his
three sons, reserving for the eldest, whose por-
tion was England, the supreme and kingly dig-
nity. Thus the kings of England by conquest,
by express appointment, and by hereditary right
had been overlords of Scotland from the earliest
possible peiiods. He then summed up the long
array of his shadowy predecessors, iu which
King Arthur, in whom he devoutly believed,
was not forgot, and showed how in every case
the Scots had recognized them as feudal supe-
riors. As all this right, however, was heathenish
at the best, it would have little availed against
the orthodox argument of the pope, who claimed
Scotland for the holy see, because it had been
miraculously converted to Christianity by the
relics of St. Andrew, carried thither by St.
Eegulus. These wonder-working relics, as we
learn fi-om Fordun, consisted of a joint of St.
Andrew's arm, three fingers of his riglit hand,
one tooth, and one knee-pan. But this miracle
Edward matched with another that trium-
phantly established his cause. He told of Athel-
stane, King of England, who by his sovereign
right made Constantine king over Scotland, ac-
companying the act with the sage remark, that
to make a king was still more glorious than to
be one. The Scots afterwards rebelled; but
Athelstane overcame them through the help of
St. John of Beverley. " And having devoutly
given thanks to God (thus Edward wrote), he
jirayed tliat forthwith through the Siime blessed
agency some visible signs should be given, by
which the living of that d.ay and of .iges to come
should know that the Scots were rightfully the
subjects of England. And seeing certain i-ocks
in the place, which wa-s near Dunbar, he drew
his swoi-d from the sheath, and stnick the flint;
and, through the i)Ower of Gotl acting upon the
sword-stroke, the rock was so cleft that the
opening was an ell iu length." This Edward
declared to be an iucontrovertible fact, because

200

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

the cleft in tlie rock was still to be seen, and
the legend of the miracle continued to be re-
cited every week in the church of Beverley to
the praise and glory of St. John. Having thus
set aside the relics of St. Andrew, and estab-
lished his own claim to Scotland by right divine
and miracle, Edward continued the narrative to
his own period; and while he stated the homage
which Baliol and the kingdom had rendered to
his superiority, he was au-eful to enumerate with
severe aggi-avatious the many atrocities which
the Scots had committed in theii' late rebellion
against him.'

While the King of England thus answered
for himself, the pai-liameut had prepared a reply
for themselves; and though it was very brief
compared with that of their sovereign, it was
equaUy decisive. It was a fact, they said, notori-
ous to all, that from the earliest times the tem-
poraUties of Scotland had never belonged, and
did not now belong by any kind of right, to the
holy see. On the contrary from the earliest
times Scotland had been a lief of England, and
of the predecessoi-s of their present king. In
temporalities, also, the kings of England were
not amenable to the see of Rome. They had
therefore all and each resolved that they would
not allow their sovereign's independence to be
questioned ; that he shoidd send no advocates
or envoys to plead his rights ; and that they
cannot and would not permit him to yield to
such demands, even though he were willing so
to do. This spirited reply had 104 seals of the
nobles, knights, and chief commoners attached
to it.2

Having thus silenced his ecclesiastical rival
in a war of words, Edwai-d hastened his mili-
tary preparations to invade Scotland anew, and
put the question of its actual possession beyond
the power of cavil. As before, the invasion was
to be conducted both by land and sea, so that
while his barons were ordered to muster at
Berwick, a fleet of seventy ships was com-
manded to be in readiness at its port. Again,
also, he was mindful of his religious duties; and
before he joined his army he made a pilgrimage
to the shrine of St. Thomas h, Becket and other
holy places to obtain the blessing of the saints
upon his enterprise. He then crossed the Bor-
der accompanied by his young son, the Prince
of Wales, to whose command he intrusted a
division of his army, and advanced as fai' as
Linlithgow. But his great preparations were
signalized by no adequate achievement; for the
Scots, as wary as before, avoided a pitched

1 Mat. Westminster ; Knyghton ; Walsingham ; Prynne,
Ett 1. p. 887.
' Rymer, vol iL p. 876 ; Prynne, Ed. I. p. 892.

[a.d. 1298-1305.

battle and confined themselves to skirmishes
with straggling parties of the English, while
his cavalry lost many of their horses from cold
and want of forage. Instead of returning to
Engkmd, he resolved to winter at Linlithgow,
where he built a castle ; but before the season
for resuming hostilities had arrived he was pre-
vaOed upon to grant the Scots a second truce
through the mediation of the French king,
which was to last from January (1302) to St.
Andrew's Day. Into this treaty, however, he
would allow no recognition of Baliol as King
of Scotland, or the alliance of that country with
France, which the negotiation had attempted to
establish, as such an acknowledgment would
have been fatal to his designs against Scottish
independence. The useless campaigns being
thus ended, Edward withdrew his anny into
England.

Although the storm that thus threatened to
burst upon Scotland had been averted, it was
only for a brief season; and symptoms now gave
promise that it would return in greater violence,
and with more deadly effect. The allies of the
oppressed country were about to desert it and
leave it to its fate. The foremost of these was
Pope Boniface, who had lately been so anxious
to rescue it from the gi'ipe of England, but only
to secure it for himself. The answer of the
English parliament had distinctly shown him,
that while grasping a shadow he might lose the
substance — that by advocating the cause of
remote and barren Scotland, he might inevi-
tably offend, and perhaps wholly idieuate Eng-
land, the most profitable portion of the whole
inheritance of St. Peter — and true to the policy
of his government, he made haste to undo his
error and adopt the winning side. An oppor-
tunity also presented itself in the case of Wish-
art, Bishop of Glasgow, who, after being dis-
missed from prison by Edward, was now active
in Scotland against the English interests. To
him Boniface wrote a reproving letter, in which
the political apostasy of the pontiff is rendered
doubly disgusting by the religious strain in
which it is embodied. "With astonishment I
have heard," he thus wTote, " that you, as a
stone of stumbling and rock of offence, have
been the chief instigator and promoter of the
fatal disputes at issue between the Scottish
nation and Edward, King of England, mi/
dearly beloved son in Christ, to the displeasure
of the divine majesty, the peril of your own
honour and salvation, and the unspeakable in-
jury of the kingdom of Scotland. If such is the
case, you have made youreelf odious to God and
man. You ought to repent,and strive by earnest
endeavours in procuring peace to obtain for-
giveness." The pope also addressed a bull in a

A.D. 1298-1305.]

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

201

similar style and to the same effect to the Scot-
tish bishops, which he closed with these ominous
words: "Listen to my advices, and study to
promote the natioual peace, lest I should be com-
pelled, in addition to all I have said, to apply
another remedy." It was now the turn of
Philip of France to follow this backward apos-
tolic march, which he did with a readiness that
tio<l upon the papal heel. He had suffered a
severe defeat from the Flemings ; and that he
might work his will upon them, he was ready
to make peace with Edward, their ally, and
leave the Scots to their fate. In the treaties,
tlierefore, of truce and peace that were nego-
tLited between the two kings, neither Scotland
nor Flanders was allowed to participate. Even
this act of treachery, also, could not be per-
petrated on the part of Philip towards the Scots
without flavouring it with certain iniquitous
refinements. He was a very epicure in political
craft and cruelty, as his oppressions of the
Flemings and destruction of the order of the
Templai-s fuUy showed ; and on the present
occasion he was resolved that the unsuspicious
Scots should be the victims of his morbid pre-
dilection. At his court as negotiatore for their
country were the Earl of Buchaii, Lord Soulis,
James the Steward of Scotland, and Ingebam
de tJmfraviUe; and as these were among the
bravest and most influential of the Scottish
nobility, he resolved to deprive their country
of their services until the season of action had
expired. While he therefore continued to treat
with Edward until a lasting peace was ratified,
he pretended to these commissioners that al-
though he had made no stipulation for Scotland,
he intended to make its independence the sub-
ject of a separate treaty; and he besought them
to remain in Paris until this good object could
be accomplished. They stayed accordingly and
listened to his promises until it was too late to
return.

^Vhile these negotiations were in progress the
truce between Scotland and England had ex-
pired ; the war was resumed, and the Scots not
only succeeded in expelling the enemy from the
country, but threatenetl an invasion of EngLind.
Edward, alarmed at this, ordered twenty -six of
his chief northern barons to repair immediately
with all the force they could muster to the
assistance of John de Segrave, his governor in
Scotland, intending soon to follow them with
his whole army; and he sent down Ealph de
Mantou, commonly called, from his office, Ralph
the Cofferer, with supplies of money for their
expedition. Segrave, thus reinforced, com-
menced aggressive operations at the head of
20,(K)() soldiers, most of whom were cavalry,
separated into three divisions that the work of

VOL. I.

havoc might be more widely extended ; they
marched from Berwick towards Edinburgh, and
encamped near Roslin, each division by itself,
and without any communication with the rest.
The Scots, however, although they had retired
before their advance, had neither been idle nor
faint-hearted ; they had watched for the oppor-
tunity which the careless encampment at Roslin
now presented; and to the number of 8000
horse, under the command of Sir John Comyn,
one of the guardians of Scotland, and Sir Simon
Eraser, they marched from Biggar to Roslin to
surprise the enemy by a night attack. So secure
were the English that they had kept no watch,
and the only notice they received was from a boy,
who rushed into the camp of the first division,
commanded by Segrave himself, and cried that
the Scots were at hand. There was no time for
preparation to receive them, and after a con-
f\ised resistance they were completely routed,
Segrave himself, who was wounded, being taken,
with his brother and son, as well as sixteen
knights and thirty squii-es. The victors had
scarcely breathed when they were obliged to
prepare afresh for battle, for the second division
under Ralph the Cofferer was advancing with
furious haste to retrieve the defeat of their
companions. In this strait the Scots had re-
course to the remedy afterwards adopted by
Henry V. at Azincourt, and which seems to
have been no uncommon military usage of the
day — they slew their prisoners, whom they
could no longer retain or liberate with safety
to themselves, and commenced a fresh en-
counter. The English at this time also were
better prepared, and the Scots had a still harder
struggle to maintain than before; but the latter
were again victorious, and the Cofferer with
many of his best soldiers was taken. Two
such victories were toil and glory enough for a
single morning; and the conquerors, who had
also made a weary night march, were longing
for repose when signals for new action were
given ; the third division, greatly reinforced by
the fugitives and commanded by Robert de
Neville, a baron of high renown in the wars
against the Welsh, were seen advancing in
order of battle, and apparently strong enough
to trample down the exhausted Scots with a
single onset. Maddened at the interruption, as
well as the prospect of having the victory
snatched from them at the last moment, the
Scots were again reduced to the cruel necessity
of slaying their captives ; and on this occasion
a deed so revolting to brave soldiers seems to
have been committed with resentful severity.
Such was especially shown in the fate of Rilph
the Cofferer, who though a i>riest was clad in
the full panoply of knighthood, and who now

202

HISTORY OP SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 129S-1305.

begged hard for his Hfe with the promise of a
princely ransom. " Where is thine albe or thy
hood, sir priest?" cried Fraser, his captor, in
savage derision ; " this laced hauberk of thine,
I wot, is no holy garb. Oft hast thou harmed
us and robbed us of our wages, and now it is
our turn to have quittance." With these words
he fii-st lojjped off the hands of the soldier-
ecclesiastic and afterwards struck his head from
his shoulders. lu this battle also the English
were so completely defeated that the remains
of the army fled to England, leaving Neville
among the slain.' The renown of this three-
fold victory, which rang far and wide, was
grateful to the ears of the French, notwithstand-
ing their cessation of hostilities with England ;
and the Scottish envoys at the court of Philip
thus alluded to it in their letter to the Scottish
guardians: — "You would greatly rejoice if you
knew what reputation you have acquired all
over the world by your late conflict with the
English."'^ lu reading of this wonderful achieve-
ment at Koslin we ai'e apt to ask, "Was not
Wallace there i So ready, indeed, were the
English to connect his dreaded name with such
a defeat that by some-* he is asserted to have
commanded the Scots on this occasion. That
he had already returned to Scotland is certain
from the proscriptions afterwards issued, in
which his name frequently appears. But it is
equally certain that he neither could have been
ofl'ered, nor ought to have accepted, the chief
command where a didy-appointed Scottish gov-
ernor was in the field. It was not likely, how-
ever, that he would be lurking in his cave or
idly nourishing his resentment when the coun-
try was invaded and resistance prepared ; and
therefore it is not improbable that he was at
Koslin as an unknown knight or private volun-
teer, and that his war-cry heard amidst the din
of onset may have struck terror into the Eng-
lish, and made them think that their dreaded
enemy was once more in the ascendant.

The destruction of so gallant an army and
the infliction of such a lasting disgrace were
enough to madden the chivalrous as well as
resentful spirit of Edward ; and with terrible
oaths he swore that he would either reduce the
Scots to obedience, or make their land so deso-
late that the beasts of the field alone should
inhabit it. He was now also in a condition to
make good his threats, from the cessation of
his wars on the Continent, which left the whole
military resources of the kingdom at his dis-
posal. Accordingly towards the end of May,

1 Tyrrel ; Langtof t ; Wynton ; Fordun ; Hemingford ;
Trivet. ' Rymer.

8 Walsingham, and the Chronicle of Abingdon.

1303, he entered Scotland with such an army as
made resistance hopeless. It was parted into
two divisions, one commanded by his son the
Prince of Wales, and the other by himself, that
the eastern and western Scottish borders might
be invaded at the same time, and the threatened
desolation of the country more effectually con-
summated. And the proceedings of both these
divisions, as they advanced by their respective
routes towards Edinburgh, seemed to show a
competition in ci-uelty between father and son,
that made it difficult to tell which of them had
the pre-eminence. Behind them was a waste of
desolated fields, of plundered cities, and burning
villages and huts, while before them was the
unresisting submission of those whom the un-
sparing havoc had quelled into abjectuess, or
whose age, sex, or profession unfitted them for
action. All that could be done by the Scots
was only in the form of a guerrilla warfare;
and accordingly, at the head of small bands
that still dared to remain in arms, Comyn and
Fraser, the heroes of Koslin, and Wallace himself,
who now reappears on the field in the humble
form of an insurgent captain, hovered round the
skirts of these overwhelming phalanxes, and
could only retard the progress which they were
unable to encounter or pi-event. From Edin-
burgh Edward continued his destnictive mai-ch,
in which he visited or passed the towns of Lin-
lithgow, Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen, meeting
no resistance of moment in his progress except
from the castle of Brechin, which was garri-
soned by Su' Thomas Maule. This gallant
knight, at the approach of Edward, refused to
surrender; and so confident was he in the
strength of the walls, that in scorn of his assail-
ants he wiped oS' from his face with a towel
the dust which was raised by their battering-
engines. So strong, indeed, were the ramparts
that no impression was made on them, and the
siege, which lasted twenty days, threatened to
be tedious or unsuccessful when the brave-
hearted Maule was struck down by a mortal
blow from one of the missiles. " May we not
surrender now?" cried his dispirited soldiers as
they hung over their expiring leader. "What,
cowards!" he exclaimed indignantly, "3aeld up
the castle] — no, never!" and with these words
he expired.* But the life and soul of resistance
had passed away with his last breath, and the
garrison opened their gates to the enemy. After
the surrender of the castle of Brechin Edward
proceeded to Dunfermline, where he resolved
to pass the winter. The chief ornament of this
old capital of Malcolm Canmoi-e was the Bene-
dictine monastery — a building of such extent.

> U. Westminster.

A.D. 129&-1305.]

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

203

as we are told by an English historian, that
three sovereigns with all their retinues might
have found accommodation within its walls.'
It had also occasionally been used as a place of
meeting for the Scottish parliament. Being on
these accounts a fair mark for destruction, the
English army set it on fire ; and the same his-
torian whom we have already mentioned en-
deavours to justify the deed. " They beheld,"
lie says, " that this temple of the Lord was no
longer a church but a den of thieves, and as it
were a sty in the eyes of the English nation,"
and therefore they destroyed it ; but he is care-
ful to tell us that the church itself and a few
cells, "good enough for the residence of monks,"
were exempted from the general destruction.

As Stirling Castle, garrisoned by Sir William
Oliphant, was the only fortress of consequence
in possession of the Scots, they made a last effort
to preserve it ; and for this purpose Comyn the
governor, having assembled an army, posted
himself upon the same ground which Wallace
had occupied when he so signally defeated
the army of Surrey. But the ground little
availed where the spirit of Wallace was absent.
Edward, rejoicing that his enemies were now
arrayed before him on one field, instead of
being everywhere and invisible, advanced to
end all by a single battle. In his eagerness also
he intended to reach them by the same bridge
which had given passage to Creseingham ; but
even this trap, which might have allured him
to a simUar destruction, had been foolishly de-
stroyed by the Soot.s, and thus he was obliged
to cross the river by a ford — the same ford, in
all likelihood, which Luudiu had recommended
to the impetuous Cressingham. Edward thus
crossed the river with little difficulty, and on
charging with all his cavalry the Scots were
quickly routed and dispersed.^

The last army of Scotl cud was thus thrown
away, and nothing remained but submission.
Bruce had already surrendered, and Comyn,
with the other insurgent nobles, followed the
example, after obtaining the most favourable
terms which the conqueror was willing to con-
cede. These stipidations were for their lives,
liberties, and estates, reserving to Edward the
right of inflicting upon their rebellion whatever
pecuniary fine he plea.sed. Certain persons, how-
I ever, were excepted from this amnesty as being

worthy of heavier punishment ; and these were
Wishart, Bishop of Gla-sgow, the Steward, Sir
John Soulis, David de Graham, Alexander de

iLyndesay, Simon Eraser, Thomas Bois — and
William Wallace. Wishart, the Steward, and
I Soulis were sentenced to exile for two yeare,

M. Wtistminster.

and not to pass to the north of the Trent;
Graham and Lyndesay were banished from
Scotland for six months, and Eraser and Bois
for three years, with prohibition to enter France,
or any of Edward's territories. As for Wallace,
the greatest defaulter of the whole, no conditions
of mercy were held out to him : he was adver-
tised, that if he surrendered himself it must be
unconditionally to the clemency of the King of
England ; and of what that clemency consiste<l
the past experience of Scotland had learned but
too well. Soon afterwards Edward held an
English parliament at St. Andrews to receive
to his mercy such of those barons as consented
to the stipulated terms ; and all came forward
and submitted, with the exception of Fraser
and Wallace, who were immediately proclaimed
outlaws. Weary at last of such a life of suspense,
and hopeless of the national spirit, even Fraser
at length succumbed to his sentence of banish-
ment, and Wallace stood alone. He indeed
made a show of surrender also, but it was in
full consistency with his heroic character.
Scorning the idea of yielding unconditionally,
he proposed terms through his friends to the
King of England, which were those of a soldier,
a free man, and an independent chieftain, who
had borne ride and might bear it again, rather
than a hunted outlaw in the forest of Dunferm-
line. Edward was "fidl grim" when he received
this tender; and sending Wallace with curses to
the foul fiend as an arch-traitor, and all who
sustained and abetted him, he set a price of 300
mai-ks upon liLs head. Confirmed by this an-
swer, Wallace confined himself to his hiding-
places, subsisting as before on the plunder of
his enemies.'

The c;istle of Stirling still held out, on which
Mccount Sir William Oliphant, its commander,
and the garrisoTi had been included in the sen-
tence of outlawry proclaimed against Fraser and
Wallace. Edward now laid siege to this last
stronghold of Scottish liberty; but on being
summoned to surrender, Oliphant, in the true
spirit of chivalry, replied that the fortress had
been committed to his keeping by his feudal
superior Sir John Soulis, without whose express
permission he could not yield it up; he otl'ered,
liowever, immediately to repair to France, where
Soulis was in exile, and return with his answer
whatever it might be. But Edward, who cared
little for knightly fidelity when it was arrayed

» "Whantliei broiilit thnt tcthinR EJivaid was fulle grim.
And bitauht him the fciuic, nis his traj twire in lond,
And ever-ilkon his frende that him sustejnd or fond.
Three hundreth niarkc he hctte unto his warisoun,
That with liim so mette. or hring his hede to toun.
Now Hies William Walcis. of pres mmht ho spcdis.
In mores and mareis with robberie him fedis-"

— Langtott, voL a p. 324.

204

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

against himself, received the proposal with in-
sult: " I am not to wait for the ordere of Soulis;
defend you the castle as you best can." The
castle in those days was reckoned all but im-
pregnable, and to storm it every engine was
brought forward which mUitaiy science had
devised. Thirteen of these played against the
walls, and discharged huge stones, leaden balls,
and javelins; but they were answered by ma-
chines from the ramparts fully as terrible, that
made destructive gaps in the ranks of the be-
siegers, and were seconded by daring and suc-
cessful sallies of the garrison. The difficulties of
the siege and the gallant deeds of arms with
which it was accompanied roused the spirit of
Edward, now an old man, into all the military
ardour of his youth, so that he was eager to
throw himself into the foremost press of conflict.
On one of these occasions his daring had almost
cost him dear; for, while riding too near the
walls, a dart aimed at him from a balista struck
him on the breast, and but for his well-tem-
pered cuirass would have pierced him to the
heart. He was, however, unhurt; and, plucking
out the weapon, he shook it aloft, and cried
that he would hang the caitift" who had shot it.
At another time a huge .stone boomed so close
to him, that with the noise and wind his horee
backed and fell, so that his soldiei's thought he
had been slain. The siege had lasted a month,
when, finding that the shot of his engines was
of little avail against walls so strong and high,
Edward sent to York, Lincoln, and London,
ordering all their most effective war machines
to be forwai-ded to his camp; and he con-
structed two new ones that discharged leaden
balls of 300 pounds weight with such force as
to command the lofty battlements; he also
caused arrows to be shot into the tower round
the heads of which balls of cotton were wrapped
that were kindled with Greek fire to consume
the buildings. The perseverance of the stern old
monarch, who was determined not to leave the
castle untaken, jirevaded ; and after the siege
had lasted three months the small band of brave
defendei-s, reduced to the last extremity, were
forced to capitulate. Nothing less than their
unconditional surrender would satisfy the pride
of Edwai-d ; and they were obliged to appear
before him with their heads and feet bare, with
ropes round their necks, and their bodies stripped
to their drawer's and shij-ts, and in this condi-
tion to crave for mercy upon their knees. In
this way he ungenerously endeavoured to de-
grade 140 brave soldiei-s — for this was their
scanty number- -who had kept his whole army
at bay for three mouths, and who had only
yielded when their hist meal was consumed
and their last defence thrown down. After

[a.d. 1298-1305.

this the whole were consigned to prisons in
England.

Every castle in Scotland had now surren-
dered, and the conquest was more complete than
ever. But Sir William Wallace still survived;
and as long as he lived the conquest of his coun-
try could never be sure and certain, no, not for
a single day. Of this Edward was well assured;
and he employed every means, not only of open
pureuit but secret craft and treachery, either to
destroy the national champion or enti-ap him
within his toils. There were Scotchmen also
base enough to co-operate in his designs; and
of these recreants Sir John Menteith is doomed
to the imperishable infamy of having been the
successful traitor, notwithstanding all the his-
torical cavil and denial that has attempted to
clear his memory. Whether the promised re-
waid was his sole motive, or whether he was
instigated by some personal or family feud, it is
impossible now to discover, and perhaps does
not greatly matter — for it was a deed of such
damning iniquity as to defy extenuation. Men-
teith employed a servant of Wallace, called
Jack Short,! to watch and betray his master ;
and so successfully did this emissary play his
part, that the hero was apprehended in his bed in
Glasgow, at the house of a certain Ralph Raa or
Ray." On being secured the captive w;is brought
to London, and led to a place of confinement
"with great numbere of men and women wonder-
ing upon him."^ On the day after his arrival, so
expeditious were his judges, he was brought on
horeeback to Westminster for trial, and attended
by the mayor, sheriff's, and aldermen of London,
with a strong guard of horse and foot. In de-
rision, also, a crown of laurel was placed on his
head, when he was arraigned in Westminster
Hall, because, according to the report of his
enemies, he had said that he ought to wear a
crown in that hall. His impeachment, which
was made by Sir Peter MaUorie, the royal jus-
tice, contained a long array of deeds in behalf
of his country, but each a deed of treason, be-
cause committed against Edward. After the
conquest of Scotland and the submission of
Baliol and the nobles, this William Wallace, it
was declared, had traitorously levied war against
his liege sovereign of England; he had gathered
to himself an immense host of felons, with whom
he assailed the king's officers and servants; he
had slain William Heselreg,* governor of La-
nark; he had driven out the king's garrisons

> Chronicle <if Robert de Bnmne.

• Arundel MSS. in Illustrations of Scottish History of the
Maitland Publications. Wyuton.

3 Stow.

* Tllis person is named Hislop. Haselrig. and Heselreg
indiilerently by the old English liistorians.

A.D. 1298-1305.]

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

205

from the towns, cities, and castles of Scotland,
and by his own authority had convoked parlia-
ments to form an alliance with France for its
aid against the King of England. With his
accomplices he had also invaded the counties of
Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmore-
land; and in addition to the atrocities com-
mitted against the laity of these counties, slay-
ing old and young, man, woman, and child, he
had slaughtered monks and holy men, bui'ued
churches, and destroyed theu- sacred relics.
Moreover, when King Edward with his ai-my
had again entered Scotland, and granted it a
lasting peace, the aforesaid William Wallace
had persisted in his felonious and seditious prac-
tices, refusing to submit to the king's peace, and
for this he had been outlawed according to the
statutes and customs both of England and Scot-
land.' Wallace indignantly denied that he was
a traitor. He had never sworn fealty to Edward,
and his resistance was nothing more than which
the English had offered to Louis the Dauphin
in defence of Edward's own father and of the
rights of England, when they were invaded by

1 These offences were all and each to be visited with a
correspondent punishment, which was thus expressed in his
sentence: " Consideratum est quod pra^dictus Willelnius
pro manifesta seditione . . . detrahatur a palatio West-
monasterii usque Turrim Londoii, et a TiuTi usque Allegate,
et sic per medium civitatis usque Elraes ; et pro robberiis
et homicidiis et feloniis, quas in regno Anglife et terra
Scotia; fecit, ibidem suspendatur et postea devaletur. Et
quia utlegatus fuit. nee postea ad pacem domini regis re-
stitutus, decolletur et decapitetur. Et postea pro immensa
Tilitate. quam Deo et sacrosanctaj ecclesia; fecit coro-
burendo ecclesias, vasa et feretra, in quibus corpus Christi
et corpora sanctorum et reliquiaj eomudem collocabantur,
cor. epar. et pulmo et omnia interiora ipsius Willelmi, a
quibus tam pen'ersaj cogitationes processerunt, in ignem
mittantur et comburentiu-. Et etiam quia non solum ipsi
domino regi, sed toti plebi Anglise et .Scotiie, prajdictus sedi-
tionem, depnedationes, incendia. et homicidia et felonias
fecerat, corpus illius Willelmi in quatuor quarteria scin-
datur et dividatur, et caput sic abscissum assedatur super
pontera Londoii, in conspectu tam per terram quam per
aquam transeuntium, et ununi quarterium suspendatur in
gibetto apud Novum Castrum super Tj-nam, aliud quar-
teriura apud Berwj-k, tertium quarteriuni apud .Stryvelj-n,
et quartuni quarterium apud Vill.un .Sancti Johannis, in
metum et castigationem omnium pncteriuntium et ea con-
Bpicientium," *tc-— Wallace Papers of Maitland Club, pp.
192-3. The same causes are specified with equal minute-
ness in De Brunnes ChronkU. I

a foreign master. As for the hostility he had
waged, and the damage he had inflicted upon
the English, these were deeds too notorious to
be denied, as well as too consistent with the
u.sages of war to be excused, and therefore he
offered no defence. The sentence of the judge
w;is inflicted upon him with all its honible
details (23d August, 1305). In chains he was
dragged through the streets at the tails of horses
to the Elms in Smithfield, the common place of
execution; he was hanged for a short space, and
then cut down; and while still living his bowels
were taken out and burned before liis face. No
parting speech, no dying words of Wallace, have
been recorded : they may have been unheeded
or suppressed; but one little incident connected
with his execution, although delivered by an
authority whom it is the fashion of our day ut-
terly to discard," is too natural, as well as too
affecting to be rejected, while it forms a welcome
relief to the horroi-s of the scaffold. From child-
hood a cherished book of Wallace was a psalter,
which he always caiTied with him wherever he
went; but it had been taken from him with his
weapons when he was apprehended. At his
request Lord Clifford caused it to be brought
to him ; and on receiving it the Scottish hero,
whose hands were bound, had it held before
his eyes by a priest, and he continued to look
upon it to the last. His head was struck off,
and consigned to its place on London Bridge;
his four quarters were sent to Newcastle, Ber-
wick, Stirling, and Perth, to be set up and
exhibited as a scorn, a gazing-stock, and a
warning. Thus equally was he parted between
England, which he had so sorely chiistised, and
Scotland which he had raised into rebellion.
But without him, where would have been the
civic privileges of these fair cities, or even the
liberty of Enghuid and Scotland themselves, in
which they have learned so cordially to par-
ticipate ? Even the boasted JIagua Chaita,
which the Plantagenets would have torn into
shreds, fouud its truest and ablest champion
and preserver in Wallace, the hero of Scotland.

' Henry the Minstrel

206

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1305-1307.

CHAPTER V.

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE CONTINUED— ROBERT BRUCE (1.305-1307).

New government established by Edward I. for Scotland — Robert Bruce — Review of Bruce's previous career —
His early inconsistencies — He proposes to liberate Scotland — His singular compact with Comyn — Assassi-
nation of Comyn — Coronation of Bruce at Scone — Difficulties of his situation — Edward's preparations to
suppress this new insurrection — Defeat of Bruce at Methven Wood — His subsequent wanderings and
dangers — He is attacked and defeated by the Lord of Lorn — Bruce's gallantry in the retreat — His passage
across Loch Lomond — He takes refuge in Rachrin — Edward's merciless execution of his Scottish prisoners
— Capture of the castle of Kildrummy — Execution of Nigel Bruce.

Edward I. having thus freed himself by the
execution of Sir William Wallace from the only
obstacle he apjjrebended, found no difficulty in
making those arrangements by which Scotland
was to be governed as a dependency of England.
Nothing, indeed, appeared more easy than such
a task ; for the fortresses were in his possession,
the nobility had swoi'n allegiance to his rule,
and the people at large were not only without
courage but without a leader. He commanded
the Scottish nation to elect ten commissionei's
to represent them in the English parliament,
this representation to consist of two bishops,
two abbots, two earls, two barons, and two
persons for the commons ; and on their repair-
ing to London they were joined by twenty
English commissioners, with whose aid a new
constitution and laws were to be framed for
the kingdom of Scotland. They set to work in
compliance with his decree, and took care that
their enactments should be in accordance with
his wishes. The new government thus formu-
lated was more lenient than could have been
expected. The country was to be governed by
the king's lieutenant, and under him tlie chief
offices were to be held indifferently by English-
men and Scots ; the districts were to be super-
intended by sheriffs who should act for the
king's profit and the maintenance of order;
and while the old laws, under the name of the
" custom of the Scots and Brets," were abro-
gated, the new Saxon code, that had been gi-ow-
ing upon the old since the time of David I., was
still further assimilated to that of England. In
these changes, although the defaulters in the
late revolt were not allowed to escape, then-
punishment was more lenient than could have
been expected, consisting of a fine varying from
one to five years of rental, according to the
length or obstinacy of their resistance. But let
the new government be as mild as it might, it
was still the token of national degi-adation and
sul:)jection ; and its leniency only indicated the
confidence of the victor, and his determination
that the conquest should be sure and lasting.

Little, however, did it matter how wise or just
or gentle it might be when, before the ink had
dried, the parchment was torn into shreds and
thrown to the winds. Another Wallace was in
the field. Scottish resistance had been resumed.
The kingdom, instead of being peacefully ruled,
must be conquered anew.

The hero of this formidable revolt was Robert
Bruce, Earl of C'ariick, and grandson of the
competitor whose conduct during the preceding
yeavs had been so changeable and perplexing.
As he has hitherto flitted only for a few mo-
ments and at irregular intervals before om-
notice, a more collected account of his ante-
cedent career will be nece.s.sary for the better
undei'stauding of his future proceedings, and
this especially as he impersonates the most im-
portant epoch of Scottish history.

The circumstances that occasioned the ro-
mantic union of the Lord of Annandale to the
Countess of Carrick have been already i-elated.'
Their son Robert, the future champion and
King of Scotland, was born on the llth of July,
1274. At the period, therefore, of the execution
of Wallace, which occurred on the 23d of August^
1.305, Bruce had ended his thirty-first year.
The competition for the crown of Scotland, in
which he had such a deep personal interest,
must have kindled within his young heart an
ambition which, though occasionally suppressed
by after events, could never be extinguished ;
and to this ruling principle of his youth, waging
a constant war with those patriotic feelings
which seem to have been of slower and later
growth, may be mainly attributed that early
fickleness of conduct which concealed the na-
tive strength and nobleness of his character.
It may have also ])roved his best safeguard
against the watchfulness of Edward, who could
httle suspect that a young man of so many
changes would prove such a formidable and
successful rival. In this spiiit young Robert,
who with his father was in the service of Ed-

1 See above, p. 138.

A.D. 1305-1307.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

207

ward, could be little expected to dissent from
the proceedings of the English king in 1295-96,
which had for their object the deposition of
Baliol, more especially as the Earl of Carrick
had been allured with the hope that he would
be placed upon the throne of his i-ival. Both
father and son had also been irritated by John
Baliol, who during his short and unsuccessful
revolt had deprived Bruce of the earldom of
Carrick and bestowed it upon his own kinsman,
John Comyn, Earl of Buchan.

After these events, and when the war of
national independence succeeded, Robert Bruce
was in a situation of considerable difficulty.
With the insurgents were patriotism, victory,
and the tempting allurements of military re-
nown and adventure; but Wallace, as guardian
of Scotland, acted in the name of John Baliol,
and every success he achieved was a step to-
wards the reposition of the fallen king. It was
not wonderful that Bruce should demui' in be-
half of a cause he hated and a rival who had
sought to bereave him of his patrimony, and
persuade himself that Scotland was not to be
benefited by such agencies in behalf of such a
sovereign. But as the revolt of Wallace went
onward and became more formidable this neu-
trality of the Bruce became suspicious to the
English powers whom he most sought to pro-
pitiate ; and a summons from the Bishop of
Carlisle to meet him and the barons to whom
the charge of that district had been committed,
and consult with them on the troubled state of
Scottish affairs, could not be refused. To Car-
lisle he accordingly went, followed by his vassals
of Galloway. This was not enough, however,
and he was obliged to swear upon the host and
the sword of Thomas k Becket that he would
be a true liegeman to Edward, and the active
enemy of aU his enemies, whether Scots or
others. After this guarantee so doubly sanc-
tioned Bruce returned home ; and to prove the
sincerity of his allegiance to the King of Eng-
land he ravaged the lands of Sir William
Douglas, who was serving under the banner of
Wallace, and carried off as prisoners that noble-
man's wife and children. If this rash deed was
done in sincerity it was quickly repented of, or
if it was adopted to blind the English the mask
was speedily thrown aside ; for he joined the
secret councils of the Scottish patriots, and
mustering his father's vassals of Annandale, he
endeavoured to enlist them on the same side
by appeahng to their national feelings, and de-
claring that the oaths he had sworn at Carlisle
had been wrung from him by force and fear.
But these men of Annandale had a lord whom
they jireferred to their country; and as he was
now serving under Edward they would not

compromise his safety let the jeopardy of Scot-
land be what it might. They therefore stole
away in the night fiom their yoimg ma-ster,
whom they must have regarded as a rash or
undutiful son, and left him to prosecute the
adventure alone. Bruce then joined the insur-
gents along with those other Scottish nobles
whose accession was such a doubtful aid to
Wallace and national liberty; but his new-born
ardour was so short-lived that at the capitu-
lation of Irvine he accepted the terms of peace,
became once more the liegeman of England,
and gave his daughter Marjory, the mother of
the future dynasty of Scotland, as the hostage
of his faith. In this way he depiived himself
of a share which he might otherwise have en-
joyed in the glorious \-ictory of Stirling, and
escaped the punishment with which, in all like-
lihood, such a participation would have been
visited.

After this narrow escape Bruce returned to
his cautious neutrality and shut himself up in
the castle of Ayr, apparently iuditi'erent to the
claims of either partj', although his father and
uncle were in the service of England. But if
he thus exempted himself from the dangers of
the defeat at Falkirk, he found it still more
difficult to escape the wrath of the victorious
Edward, in whose eyes such neutrality was no-
thing but passive hostility, and who marched
westward after the battle to chastise his luke-
warm vassal. But Bruce fled at his approach, and
his castle of Lochmaben was seized by Edwai'd
as the foretaste of a worse punishment. It is
possible, however, that the services of his father
pleaded in his behalf, for in the shai-p sentences
of Edward that visited the other Scottish nobles
Robert Bruce, the younger, was wholly exempted
from either fine or imjirisonment.

The fluctuations of the unsteady young hero,
numerous though they had been, had not yet
terminated. In Scotland, indeed, at this time
political oscillation had become a national epi-
demic; it was at least a vertigo or St. Vitus's
dance which had visited the nobility ; and
upon Bruce, unhappily, a double portion of the
malady seems to have fallen. After the resig-
nation of the guardianship by Wallace a regency
was chosen for the restoration of the national
independence; and among these new- rulers who
attempted such a perilous experiment was the
young Earl of CaiTick. What was still more
surprising was that he took office with John
Comyn, the younger of Badenoch, the enemy of
his house and the rival of his royal claims. But
on this occasion Bruce was obliged to take a de-
cided pai-t, for he felt that the suspicious eye of
Edward was upon him ; and in such a strait it
was much tliat he should adopt the cause of his

208

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1305-1307.

fallen country, instead of seeking to remove
Edward's suspicions by following an opposite
course. This, however, produced the chastise-
ment that might have been expected ; for dur-
ing liLs invasion of Scotland, a.d. 1300, the
King of England wasted the lands of Bruce
and took his c;istle of Lochmaben. Quelled by
this demonstration, or foreseeing the hopeless-
ness of the national resistance, the young Earl
of Carrick returned once more to the predomi-
nant side and left his brother guai-dians to
shift for themselves, so that he had no share in
the victory of Roslin, the renown of which feU
to his rival, John Corayn. In this way, when
the Scottish reverses succeeded, Bruce had
secured the confidence and favoxrr of Edwai-d,
while Comyn was punished by a heavy fine.
He was now also the head of his powerful house,
his father having died in 1304, and he had suc-
ceeded to its great estates in England and Scot-
land without diminution. In all these changes
we cannot help detecting a mind that was very
slow in learning the princijile either of decision
or pati-iotism. How much would his heroic
reputation have been enhanced if his early his-
tory had corresponded with that of his more
matured years ! — if, like WaUace, he had stai'ted
at the first summons of his country and thrown
every selfish calculation aside! But he was as
yet, by the circumstances of descent and heredi-
tai-y feeling, only half a Scot; and independently
of his jirincely possessions, which would have
been staked on the chances of a desperate game,
he had, it may be, the prospect of a crown in
reversion, which a single step might have ex-
changed into the scaffold of Smithfield. All
this may explain and palliate, although it can-
not excuse, the manifold .shiftings of Robert
Brace between two countries and two contend-
ing interests whose claims upon him seemed to
be almost equal, and amidst whose alternate
rise and fall the most experienced wisdom
found it often hard to choose.

But events had ripened, and the time had
aiTived when not only his choice must be de-
cisively made, but fii-mly and consistently ad-
hered to. He had now reached an age when
ambition is likely to be fully matured, and the
powei-s of thought and action developed for
its full exercise ; and if he would obtain the
crown to which his secret aspirations had been
directed, he must now show himself able to win
and worthy to wear it. To elTect this, but
without revealing his ultimate intent, he had
formed those bonds of alliance with several
nobles and barons which were common to the
Norman aristocracy both of England and Scot-
land, in which they engaged to support each
other in every feud, let the enemy or the cause

be what it might ; and he had adopted for his
principal supporter and counsellor the politic
and patriotic Wdliam de Lamberton, Bishop of
St. Andrews. But the most singular union of
this kind into which Bruce entered was with
John Comyn, his rival, who, as the son of John
Baliol's sister Marjory, had inherited since the
abdication of his uncle all the royal claims of
the Baliol family, which, after the utmost con-
sideration, had been proclaimed stronger than
those of the rival house. This portentous alli-
ance between the two claimants for such a prize
occurred, as we are told, while they were riding
from Stirling and mutually lamenting the mis-
government of the country through the oppres-
sive rule of Edward. It was then that Comyn,
after acknowledging the superior right of his
companion to the crown, made the following
proposal: "Make yourself king, in which I shall
aid you, and give me your estate in i-eturn ; or
if you do not choose the oflfer, take my estate,
and aid me in becoming king." It was a start-
ling proposal according to modem reckoning ;
but taking into account the spirit of the times
and the risk of the enterprise it was, if made
in good faith, a fair and reasonable oflTer. Bruce
chose the more heroic alternative. " Since you
will have it so," he said, "I will blithely take
upon me the royal state, for I wot that I have
the light, and right often makes the feeble
strong." That night at the close of their journey
the indenture was written out and subscribed
between them, by which Bruce was to become
King of Scotland, and John Corayn, the younger
of Badenoch, commonly called the Red Comyn,
the wealthiest and most powerfid of its nobles.^
It was not long, however, before the Lord of
Badenoch repented of his bargain ; and eager
to secure his own safety, as well as to involve
his dangerous rival, he revealed to Edward the
secret machinations of Bruce with which he had
been made privy during the late interview, and
even sent the indenture which had been drawn
up and subscribed between them. Edward's
eyes were opened at last, and the wiles of Bruce
could no longer avail him : his death was resolved
by a king whose ambition never relented, and
in a few hours Bruce, who was in attendance
upon the court in London, would have found
himself in prison or before a tribunal. But in
the midst of his unsuspecting security he was
advertised of the treachery of Comyn and the
purposes of Edward. Here the story becomes
so dark, and the events so numerous and con-
tradictory, that selection is at a loss; and amidst
the many romantic incidents with which the
detection of Bruce and his fortunate escape into

1 Barbour's Bruce, book i. p. 13 ; Jamiesoa's editioa

A.D. 1305-1307.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

209

Scotland are crowded, the historian can do little
else than rejoin the hero at the hist stage of his
flight.^ He had succes-sfully achieved his escape
from London, and baffled or outstripped pur-
suit; and on the seventh day- he arrived at his
castle of Lochmaben. The English judges were
about to hold a justiciary court at Dumfries;
and as both C'omyu and Bruce were freeholders
in the district their duties required them to
give attendance on the occasion. A dangerous
meeting between the rivals was therefore a
natural event; and there Bruce, the circum-
stances of whose departure from Loudon were
still unknown, invited Comyn to a private inter-
view in the convent of the Minorites. From the
sacredness of the place it may be reasonably in-
ferred that he contemplated using no shaiper
weapons than angry words. The rivals met :
Bruce accused the other of treachery, and a hot
altercation followed, in which Comyn used the
insulting expression, "You lie!" At these
words, though the pair had then reached the
foot of the altar, Bruce was so blinded with
rage that he plucked out his dagger, struck it
into the body of the insulter, and instantly, as
if overwhelmed witli the atrocity of the deed,
he iiished from the building, and called eagerly
for his horse. His friends, Kirkjiatrick and
Lindsay, on seeing his agitation, asked what
was the matter, to whom he replied, " I doubt
I have slain Comyn !" "Do you only doubt it f'
cried the truculent Kirkpatrick ; '' I mak sik-
kar!" and with these words he rushed into the
sanctuary, and killed the wounded man who
was lying bleeding on the steps of the altar.
To this account of a deed in itself so awfully
criminal, other circumstances have been added
that deepen its atrocity. "We are told, for in-
st;ince, that both Lindsay and Kirkpatrick en-
tered the church; that they asked the wounded
man if he thought he should recover ; and that
when he told them his hurt was not beyond
cure if a skilful leech could be found, they made

* The account of Barbour seems most worthy of credence,
who makes the revelation of Bruce's danger to have come
from Edward himself, who showed him the indenture, and
questioned him sharply about its authenticity. Brace, pre-
tendinp that he wouht satisfy the king by good proof on the
morrow that the whole was a forgery, was allowed to retire
to his lodging, that he might prepare his evidences; but
long before the promised hour of appearance he had
mounted his horse, and rode none could tell whither. Of
the marvellous incidents with which the tale is gamisherl,
such as the warning of twelve pence and a pair of spurs sent
by the Earl of Montgomery (or of Gloucester), the Cacus
expedient of Inverted horse-ahoes with which Bruce en-
deavoured to give a false track to his pursuers, and his
slaying and despoiling Comyn 's servant of his master's letters
on the Border— these are not noticed by Barbour, who, if
they had been true, or even talked of in his day, would
scarcely have negleoted such choice poetical embellish-
ments.

=• The tlfth day according to Barbour.

his death sure by fresh wounds. This was not
all ; for with him w.as also slain Sir Robert
Comyn while hurrying to the rescue of his uncle.
Barbour has also added that several others fell
on this occasion, as if the single deed of assas-
sination had drawn oidookers to the spot, and
swelled into a deadly feudal skirmish. What-
ever the truth regarding the concomitant cir-
cumstances, we know for certain that Comyn
fell by the hand of Bruce after a hot and hasty
debate, and that Kirkpatrick gloried in having
finished the deed, adopting a gory hand and
dagger as his mUitary cognizance, and his own
memorable exclamation for a motto.

The terrible deed, which Bruce had com-
mitted without premeditation and in a moment
of frenzy, was fraught with such a fearful accu-
mulation of consequences, that his stout heart
must have sunk within him at the reflections
which followed. He had murdered a man
not only in a sanctuary, but at the very altar ;
he had slain him under breach of trust, and
in a meeting for conference and discussion.
By that one act he would not only be an ac-
cursed and excommunicated man, but accounted
a false and perfidious knight and soldier. He
had murdered the head of the most powerful
family in Scotland, and involved himself in a
death-feud with its numerous dependencies; and
he had thereby involved himself in deadly
quarrel with Edward, whose vengeance was
certain to follow. As a Christian, a noble, a
knight ; as a subject, whether under English or
Scottish law, he was now a manifest criminal,
whom every class might hunt to execution, and
his only chance of escape from a scatFold was
the shelter of that throne with the allurements
of which he had coyed so long and so inconsis-
tently. Willingly or perforce he must now be
a king, and he hesitated no longer. His first
step, therefore, was a proclamation of defiance
to England. Assembling his followers, he took
possession of the castle of Dumfries; and as the
EngUsh justiciaries who held their court in the
great hall felt that their lives were in danger,
and barricaded the door, the building was set
on fire, and on their surrender they were dis-
missed unharmed, and sent to England. His
next step was to h;isten to his castle of Loch-
maben, and summon liis few adlierents to repair
to him for his coronation at Scone, and the
maintenance of his cause against Edward. That
castle was more than sufficient to receive and
entertain the few supporters who assembled at
his summons ; but their names, which are dear
to Scottish patriotism, ought not to be omitted.
Of the clergy there were William de Lamberton,
Bishop of St. Andrews, Robert Wishart, Bishop
of Glasgow, David, Bishop of Moray, iuid the

210

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Abbot of Scone. Of the higher nobility there
were only two, the Earls of Athole and Lennox.
Of the barons tliere were Edward, N igel, Thomas,
and Alexander, the brothers of Bruce ; Thomas
Randolph, liis nephew; Christopher Seton, his
brother-in-law; Gilbert de la Haye of Errol, and
his brother Hugli de la Haye, David Barclay of
Cairns, Alexander Eraser of Oliver Castle,'Walter
de SommerviUe of Linton and Carnwath, David
of Inchmartin, Robert Boyd, and Robert Flem-
ing. As this little band set out on theh- appa-
rently hopeless adventure they were met on their
way and joined by a gallant J'oung knight whose
aid was of itself worth armies : this was Sir
James Douglas, the son of that Lord William
Douglas who had joined the banner of Wallace,
and afterwards suffei-ed grievous injury at the
hands of Edward, who had given his estate to
Lord CliflFord. Bai-bour, who describes the cir-
cumstances under which this gallant youth sets
forth to join the despei-ate cause, exclaims in a
burst of poetical and aifectionate fervour, "Dear
God, who art king of heaven, save him and
shield him from his enemies ! " The band rode
through Glasgow, where it was increased by a
few adherents, and they all proceeded to Scone,
where Bruce was crowned on Friday the 27th
of March (1306), but with maimed rites and
obscured ceremonial; for crown and sceptre had
been carried away by Edward, and above all,
the sacred stone which would have impai-ted
promise and blessing to the new dynasty. The
Bishop of Glasgow furnished such robes as would
look most kingly from his own wardrobe ; a
golden circlet, probably bon-owed from the head
of a saint, supplied the place of a crown; and
Bruce was placed upon the throne — or what
was adopted to represent it — not by the Earl
of Fife, to whom that duty hereditarily per-
tained, but who now was in the service of
Edward, but by a fair lady, Isabella, Countess
of Buchan, and sister of the Earl of Fife, who
claimed the family right, and was eager to per-
form a ceremony which her brother on this oc-
casion would have repudiated. She also brought
good aid to the new king by presenting to him
her husband's war-horses. For aD this she was
afterwards punished not only by English his-
torians, who unjustl)' traduced her good name
as a chaste wom.in and a wife, but by the King
of England himself, who subjected her to the
penalties of treason.

In this manner, without an army save the
few friends who accompanied him, and without
a fortress exce])t the castle of Kildrummy in
Aberdeenshii'e, Robert Bruce became King of
Scotland. Nothing, indeed, but the imperious
force of necessity could have induced him to ad-
venture such a perilous step at so unpromising a

[a.d. 1302-1307.

period. Tlie King of England whom he thus so
daringly defied was, although now an old man,
still fresh and vigorous for action, and as politic
and relentless in following out his purposes as he
had been at the ripest period of manhood, while
the armies which he could collect would make re-
sistance a desperate trial even though the whole
of Scotland should be combined for the eflbrt.
On the other hand the Scottish nobles were
either cowed into submission, and therefore
de;if to the summons of Bruce, or friendly to the
Comyn faction and therefore ready to oppose
him. Even at the best, half the nation would be
disposed to ask whether Bruce could be lawfully
and legitimately king; but under the present
most unfavourable cu'cumstances he had scarcely
a supporter beyond the members of his own
family. And what career could be more in-
auspicious than one commenced with sacrilege
and murder? On the other side, however, there
were contingencies which Bruce had doubtless
taken into account. The example of Wallace
had already shown what a love of national free-
dom was cherished in the hearts of the common
people, and of what sacrifice and exertion they
were capable in its behalf. The nobility of
Scotland, too, who had held aloof from the late
champion on account of his inferior rank and
birth, could not thus demur when the new can-
didate was one of the highest of their own
order, who would be careful of its interests as
well as his own. In this way, let him be but
successful in his first attempts, though they
should be but adventurous skirmishes, and a
reaction both of noble and peasant might take
place in his favour. By such calculations it is
not unlikely that Bruce nerved himself for the
coming struggle, and that over the gloom the
example of Wallace rose like a guiding star to
enlighten his cheerless path and lead him on to
victory. All in the first instance depended upon
his own efi'orts, whether of daring or endurance,
and these he resolved should not be wanting.
Besides all this the terrible Edward, whose
talents and resources wei'e most to be dreaded,
had now reached the age of sixty-five ; he must
die in a few years, and perhaps might die in a
few months ; and the Prince of Wales, who
would succeed, had ah-eady evinced a very dif-
ferent character from that of his Dlusti'ious
father. These, indeed, were nothing more than
chances ; but what young aspu-ing mind in the
situation of Bruce would not clutch at such
chances with the firm resolve of converting
them into realities ! For one imminent danger,
indeed, which perhaps weighed heaviest of all,
Bruce had made good preparation. The curse
of the church, which already had stnick down
kings and emperors in the very height of their

A.D. 1305-1307.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

211

power, was about to be launched at his head.
But Scotland was still far from Rome and cared
little for the thunder of the Vatican ; while the
chiefs of the Scottish clergy were upon his side,
and would eti'ectually interpose in a warfare
which they were best fitted to encounter.

It would be difficult to describe the rage and
astonishment of Edward when tidings of these
events were carried to England. Little more
than five months had elapsed since Wallace had
died upon the scaffold, and in him it was thought
that the light of Scotland had been quenched
and its hope annihilated. But another Wallace
had appeared, and yet agaiu must Scotland be
subdued. Crippled with disease or the lassitude
of old age, so as to be unable to mount his horse
or to travel but in a chaiiot, Edward, during
the season of Lent, was peacefully reposing at
Winchester when the tale reached him, first of
the murder of Comyn, and afterwards of the
coronation of Bruce. Roused as by the defiance
of a war-trumpet, the worn-out veteran king
once more started into action and made his pre-
parations for a new war and conquest with all
the promptitude of his earlier yeai-s. To pro-
vide against the chance of an invasion from
Scotland he ordered the gan-isons of Berwick
and Carlisle to be strengthened, and he ap-
pointed Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke,
to be guardian of Scotland, with full power to
levy all the military resources of York and
Northumberland for the suppression of this
new rebellion. Nor was he neglectful of those
spiritual weapons which the case so temptingly
offered ; and, after sending to Clement V. an
account of the murder of Comj'n in the sanc-
tuary of Dumfries, he ajiplied for a sentence of
excommunication against the impious homicide,
which was forthwith transmitted from Rome,
whUe the Archbishop of York and the Bishop
of Carlisle were authorized to proclaim it. And
that no means might be omitted for the punish-
ment of Bruce and his adherents, Edward also
arrayed against them all those formidable re-
sources which chivalry could so effectually fur-
nish. He proclaimed a solemn festival, to be
lield at Westminster on the feast of Pentecost,
for the purpose of investing his son Edward
of Caernarvon and other young noble aspirants
with the order of knighthood ; and so splendid
an assemblage repaired on the occasion that the
palace was too small to hold them, so that they
had to repair to the orchard of the New Temple,
tlie trees of which were cut down for the occa-
sion. Three hundred youths of illustrious fami-
lies, with the Prince of Wales at their head,
were kuiglited with all that magnificence of
military and religious ceremonial which the
stately uistitutiou of chivalry could use with

such imposing effect; and at the feast given on
the occasion two swans inclosed in a golden
net-work, the knightly emblems of constancy
and truth, were brought in with a fanfare of
tnimpets, psalteries, and shawms, and reverently
placed upon the table. The venerable sovereign
then rose, and stretching forth his hands, made
a solemn vow "to the God of heaven and to
the swans" that he would inflict severe ven-
geance upon Bruce for his outrage against God
and the church, and upon the Scots for their
treachery; and that after this he would never
more unsheathe his sword against aChristian foe,
but hasten to Palestine to wage war against tlie
Saracens and die in the Holy Land. After this
strange oath, so accordant with the religious
spirit of the age, the Prince of Wales solemnly
swore that he would not remain two nights in
the same place until he reached Scotland.'

Edward having thus imparted his hatred to
the rising generation, and raised a storm against
his enemies which would not expire at his
death, made preparations on an ample scale for
a war of extermination. To defray its expenses
the merchants agi-eed to conti-ibute a tenth, and
the clergy and laity a thirtieth, while the armed
muster was appointed to meet at Carlisle fifteen
days after midsummer. Thither Edward came
by slow and easy stages ; but he was too feeble
and exhausted to accompany his army into
Scotland, and he therefore sent thither the Earl
of Pembroke as commander of the expedition,
while the Prince of Wales and his young chival-
rous companions followed in the rear. What-
ever might have been the personal corn-age of
the prince on this occasion, or the benefits of his
presence to such an enterprise, it is certain that
clemency was not one of them, and his conduct
gave the Scots a sharp warning of the treatment
they might expect should he become their king.
Such, indeed, was his merciless ferocity in wast-
ing the country and sparing neither age nor sex,
that his father himself, incensed as he was at
the whole Scottish nation, was obliged, it is
said, to interpose.

While this formidable army had been muster-
ing against Scotland its new king had not been
idle, but of his particular movements for three
months after his coronation we have no distinct
account. This, however, can be easily accounted
for by the smallness of his pai-ty and the hostility
of the Comyns, who had the greater part of the
kingdom at tlieir disposal. We can easily ima-
gine that, amidst such danger and opjx)sition,
the movements of Bruce were numerous and
rapid, and more like the shiftings of a fugitive
outlaw than a candidate for a throne; and that

■ M. Westminster.

212

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

LA.D. 1305-1307 ■

his ajipeals to the patriotism both of nobles and
people were urgent and incessant. At length
he laid siege to Perth, where the Earl of Pem-
broke had established his headquarters with a
strong garrison. As the town was well fortified
with strong towers and high ramparts the
limited means of Bruce did not permit a regu-
lar siege ; and he thei-efore endeavoured to
tempt his enemy into the field, there to try the
right of possession by a pitched battle. Kindled
by this challenge, and being stronger by 1500
men than the assailants, Pembroke would at once
have issued from the walls but for the sage
counsel of Sir Ingelram de UmfraviUe, who
represented to him the valour of the enemy and
their leader, and advised that they should be
assailed by a night attack when it was least
expected. This advice prevailed, and Pembroke
sent in answer to the defiance of Bruce that he
would mai-ch out of Perth and meet him in
battle on the mori-ow. Trusting more than a
leader should have done to the fantastic obliga-
tions of chivalry, Bruce drew off his troops to
the neighbourmg wood of Methven, where they
encamped in full security, while a third part of
their number dispersed themselves in quest of
forage. But at night, while the soldiers were
cooking their supper, they were roused by the
cry that the enemy was upon them. Bruce
himself had so little expected this onset that he
was unarmed; but he hastily girded on his
mail, mounted his war-steed, and ordered his
banner to be displayed. The fight that followed
was but a tumult and confusion on the part of
the Scots, although their king by almost in-
credible efforts of prowess endeavoured to check
the assailants and repair his error. Thrice was
he unhorsed amidst the press of opposing
multitudes and as often remounted ; and on
one occasion his bridle-rein was seized by Sir
Philip Mowbray, who shouted, " Help, help ! I
have got the new-made king!" when a blow
from Sir Christopher Seton struck Mowbray
to the gi'ound. Seeing all resistance hopeless,
Bruce couuseUed retreat, advising his followers
to disperse in small parties to baffle pursuit, and
be ready to assemble when the danger was over;
and with five hundred of his men who kept to-
gether in a body he extricated himself from the
perilous wood of Methven. But in this fatal
night engagement, besides those who had fallen,
several of his best frieiuls and supportere were
taken prisoners, the chief of whom were Sir
Thomas Bandol|>Ii, his nephew, at that time a
young bachelor of arms or esquire; Sir Alex-
ander Fraser, Sir David Barclay, Sir David
Inchmartin, Sir Hugh de la Haye, and Hughi
the chaplain of Bruce. On Pembroke advising
his master of the victory Edward commanded

him to execute instantly all Ids prisoners — an
order which the earl did not carry into effect;
and in consequence of this delay, while only a
few knights were afterwards hanged and quar-
tered, some were ransomed, and others liberated
on promising to be the liegemen of the King of
England. Among these last was Sir Thomas
Randolph, who was not yet confirmed in his
principles or superior to the shifting character
which distinguished that mutable period.

After this disheartening defeat Bruce re-
treated for shelter to the wilds and mountains
of Athole; and among the band that accom-
panied him were Sir Edward Bruce his brother,
the Earl of Athole, Sir James Douglas, Sir
Gilbert de la Haye, Sir Nigel Campbell, and
Sir William de Barondoun. Nothing could be
more wretched and hopeless than the condition
of this band of wanderers cooped up in a barren
country where they could find little subsistence,
and yet afraid to venture into the plains where
their followers might be tempted to desert them.
In a short time their apparel was worn out and
reut; they had no shoes but such as they made
of the untanned hides of the beasts they killed
in hunting ; and even this sorry subsistence was
so scanty and precarious that they were obliged
by hunger to descend into the low country of
Aberdeenshire at the risk of falling into the
hands of their enemies. At Aberdeen Bruce
was joined by his queen, and by the wives and
daughters of the principal wanderers, who were
anxious to share or alleviate the privations of
their husbands and fathers, and who had come
to them escorted by Sir Nigel Bruce, the king's
brother. Bruce rejoiced at theu- coming, al-
though it only increased his difiiculties, for he
learned that the English had heard of their
resort, and meant to fall upon them by surprise.
This report hastily broke up their encampment,
and the band of patriots with their aS'ectionate
pai-tuers retreated from the town to the bleak
shelter of the wilderness. As their wants were
increased they were obliged to be doubly as-
siduous in hunting and fishing, and in these
desperate shifts none was so useful as Sir James
Douglas. This young knight, who had been
educated among the refinements of the French
court, was as gentle, courteous, and debonnair
as he was valiant; and therefore, while he com-
forted the king with his wit and scholarly con-
versation, he was constant in his attention to
the sufferings of the ladies, and no one was so
dexterous as he in making gins and nets to snare
the wary game, or so successful in hunting and
fishing. He was indeed a " very perfect knight"
of a rude age and ruder country.

In the course of their wanderings the pai-ty
arrived at the head of the Tay ; and here their

A.D. 1305-1307.] ROBERT BRUCE.

dangers were increased, for they were now in
the country of Breadalbane, wliich was ruled
by Alexander, Lord of Argj'le and Lorn, who
had married the aunt of the murdered Comyn,
and was therefore at deadly feud with Bruce
and all his family. On hearing that his hated
enemy was so nigh, this mountain satrap col-
lected a thousand of his hardy and devoted
followers, and rushed down to take the royal
party by surprise. Bruce was fortunately aware
of his coming ; but the superior numbers of the
enemy, and the wai-faie of the mountainous
passes for which his heavy-armed soldiers were
unfitted, made the conflict every way unequal.
They bore themselves indeed bravely and made
a stout resistance; but theii- armour of plate and
mail was an insecure defence against the heavy
Lochaber axes of the Highlandei-s, while their
footing among rock and morass deprived them
of the full use of their horaes and weapons and
theii' wonted modes of warfare. Sir James
Douglas and Sir Gilbert de la Haye were
wounded ; the floundering steeds of the men-at-
arms were struck down ; and seeing the hope-
lessness of resistance on such dangerous ground,
Bruce gave ordere to retreat, taking his place
meanwhile in the rear to hold the pui-suers in
check, which he efl"ected to the terror and ad-
miration of his enemies. One of his deeds on
this occasion extorted their applause, and put
an end to the pui-suit. Three devoted vas-
sals of the Lord of Lorn had resolved to de-
stroy this enemy of their chief, and followed
him for the purpose, until they overtook him
at a part of the pass where there was a loch
on one side and a precipitous bank on the other,
with a path so narrow between as scarcely
to give him room to wheel his war-steed. At
this place of advantage they all sprang upon
him at the same instant, and one of them seized
the king's bridle ; but Bnice with a blow of his
sword lopped off'tlie ciiptor's arm by the shoulder.
The second seized the king's foot to drag him
from the saddle ; but Bruce jammed the fellow's
hand between the mailed foot and iron stirrup,
so that he held him as in a trap, and drew him
after him by rising in his seat and giving his
horse the s])ur. The third Highlander with a
tiger-like spring leaped upon the horee behind,
hoping to |)inion the arms of Bruce, or stab him
in the back ; but, exerting his great strength to
the utmost, Bruce turned in the saddle, dragged
the man forward ujjon his horse's neck, and de-
spatched him with a single blow, after which
he made an end of the prostrate enemy whom
he still lield fast by the stiirup. This threefold
task, as it required gi-eat promptitude, seems to
have been scarcely tlie work of as many seconds.
One of Lorn's barons called MacNautrhton, on

213

seeing the gallant efforts of Bruce to protect his
followers, and especially the hist deed we have
mentioned, was loud in his praises. " In what
a little time," he cried, "he has felled three of
our strongest to the earth, so that none dare
follow him : he is the bravest champion I ever
beheld." " You seem to be delighted," said Lorn
angrily, "at the slaughter he makes among our
followers." "Not so," replied the other, "but
we ought to praise a gallant deed whether done
by friend or enemy." On perceiving that his
enemies had cleai'ed the dangerous pass, Lorn
discontinued the pureuit. The place where this
fatal skirmish happened is still called Dairy, or
the king's field, in commemoration of the event.
As winter was now approaching the hardships
of the wanderers were increased, and their scanty
resources of hunting and fishing began to fail.
It was therefore judged expedient that the
ladies should no longer accompany them; and
after a tender parting they were sent under a
strong escort commanded by Nigel Bruce to the
castle of Kildnimmy, and provided with all the
horses of the company to carry them on their
way. Bruce and his attendants, who were now
reduced to 200 men, continued their pilgrimage
on foot, oppressed with hunger, winter storms,
and cold, but resoh'iugto force their passage to
C'antire, and afterwards proceed to Ireland,
where the Earl of Ulster might provide them
with shelter for the winter. With this design
they prosecuted their route through Perthshire,
but on reaching the banks of Loch Lomond
they were brought to a sudden pause, for they
had no means of crossing the loch, while to
travel round it would only lead them into the
hostile tenitory of the Lord of Argyle and Lorn.
When pursuit in the meantime was every mo-
ment to be apprehended the fortunate Douglas
found a boat sunk in the water ; and although
it was a crazy leaky skiff that could onlj' hold
three persons, it carried over a part of the band
by frequent trips, the others crossing by swim-
ming. A night and a day, however, were spent
in this weary transit, and to cheer his drooping
followers during the delay, Bruce, who appears
to have read much during his yeai-s of leisure,
recounted to them the romance of Ferenxbras
and other tales of chivalry, in which the weak
triumphed, and the many were overcome by the
few.' Having crossed the lake the hunger-worn
party explored the neighbouring woods in seai-ch
of food, although the enemy was on their track.
On hearing the noise of their coming the Earl
of Lennox, who was among the neighbour-

' Barbour informs us that he rfad the romance of Fcrem-
bras. In this else Bruce must hare carried about with him
in his wanderings a stor}--bool£ just as Wallace carried his
psalter.

214

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1305-1307.

ing hills, came down with hia attendants to
learn the meaning of this arrival. He had
been a firm supporter of the cause of Bruce,
whom he had not seen since the battle of Meth-
veu, and whom he already believed to be dead;
but on meeting thus unexpectedly with his royal
friend and master the two embraced each other
with tears of joyful congratulation. He was
himself indeed a homeless wanderer like the
king; but he had not been reduced to such
straits, and he was able to supply the whole
company with a plentifid meal. As no time was
to be lost they continued their route to t^antire
by sea, in vessels furnished by Sir Nigel Camp-
bell, where they were hospitably received by
Angus of Isla, the Lord of Cantire, in his castle
of Dunaverty. It was indeed in a happy hour
that they thus set sail, for the pursuit was so
close upon them that the Earl of Lennox, the
last who embarked, would have been overtaken
by the English, had he not escaped by hard
rowing and throwing everything overboard that
could be spared.

After residing three days at the castle of
Dunaverty, and receiving the homage of Angus
of Isla, Bruce, who knew that even this extreme
point of Scotland could furnish him with neither
defence nor shelter, prepared for his temporary
departure from the country. The bleak and ob-
scure little island of Rachrin (or Rathlin) on the
northern coast of Ireland was his place of choice,
and thither he sailed with 300 followere in the
small flotilla which the care of Sir Nigel Campbell
had provided. Their landing upon the island
dismayed the simple inhabitants as much as if it
had been one of the old Norwegian invasions of
which they may have preserved a traditionary
remembrance ; and when they saw their strand
glittering with the arrival of mail-clad men,
they collected their cattle in haste and fled to
a place of strength in the interior. Their fears
were quickly removed by the courteous words
and explanations of the strangers, so that they
received them with hospitality; and in this incle-
ment and obscure hiding-place, concealed alike
from friend and enemy, Bruce resolved to abide
until a dawn of hope from Scotland should in-
vite his return.

This escape of an enemy whose claims so for-
midably interfered with his own prospects highly
aggravated the rage of the King of England,
and his pei-secutions of the rebellious Scots,
merciless though they had hitherto been, were
now prosecuted with double severity. Too old
and feeble to enter in person upon the scene,
although he had got as near it as Lanercost, he
issued his stern orders to Pembroke, the English
Guardian of Scotland, who acted accordingly.
He made proclamation that all Scottish people

should search for and pursue every pei-son who
had been in arms against the English govern-
ment, and had not surrendered to it ; that all
who had committed other crimes should be
apprehended dead or alive; and that all who
were negligent in this search should be punished
with the foi-feiture of their castles and dwell-
ings, and be imprisoned during pleasure. The
gT-iai'dian was also empowered to punish at his
discretion all who hai-boured the offenders above
specified. While these decrees were sufficiently
comprehensive a special measure of severity was
reserved for all who might in any way counten-
ance the crime of the murder of Comyn ; and on
this head it was proclaimed that all who had
been present at the deed, or who abetted it, or
who voluntarily and knowingly harboured any
of the actors or abettors, should be drawn and
hanged ; and that all those already taken in
arms, or who might afterwards be so taken, and
all who harboured such persons, should behanged
or beheaded. The chief of those who had been
in arms, and had surrendered themselves to
mercy, were to be imprisoned during the King
of England's pleasure. As for the common
people, those who had been compelled to rise in
arms at the command of their feudal superiors,
but contrary to their own inclination, the guar-
dian was commissioned to fine and ransom them
as he judged fit.'

The proceedings of Edward in the condemna-
tion of high aud noble prisonei's who had faUen
or who soon after fell into his hands, evinced
his resolution that these enactments should be
anything but a dead letter; and the fate of his
victims, although painful to tell, is yet necessary
to be recorded for a more complete understand-
ing of the times and the Scottish history of the
period. We select in the first instance, as the
least revolting, the punishment of those ecclesi-
astics who had sanctioned the cause of the ex-
communicated Bruce by their presence as well as
aided it with their resources. Of these Lam-
berton, Bishop of St. Andrews, and the Abbot
of Scone, who were taken in the fuU harness of
knighthood by the Earl of Pembroke, were -sent
in fetters to Edward ; aud soon after Robert
Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, who had taken
refuge in the castle of Cupar, was captured in
the same unpriestly garb and sent in chains
upon the same journey. They were accused
of manifold acts of treason; but the whole
amounted to the fact that before the battle of
Methven they had supplied Bruce with money
and the aid of armed retaiuei-s, and were still
earnest in his cause. Edward woiild assuredly
have sent them to the same gallows on which

' Kymer, Feed. ; Ryley ; Tyrrel'a Bittory of England.

A.D. 1305-1307.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

215

men of equally high estate were immolated had
he not feared the perilous consequences of a
new Thomas a Becket warfare, with all Chris-
tendom arrayed against him ; and therefore
stopping short of this, he inflicted as much as
he dared, so that their places should know them
no more. He accordingly applied to the pope,
to whom the right alone pertained, requesting
not only that the two bishops should be deposed,
but that Walter Comyu, brother to the Earl of
Buchan, might be appointed to the primacy of
St. Andrews, and Jeffrey de Mowbray to the
bishopric of Glasgow. But with this dictation
in church government from a layman, even al-
though he was a powerful sovereign, the pontiff
did not think tit to comply, more especially
when no particular benefit to Rome w;is to
accrue from it. Edward, thus disappointed in
Ilia revenge against the patriotic churchmen,
escheated their temporalities and condemned
them to an imprisonment which he resolved
should be perpetual.

Other victims more worthy of commiseration
were those unfortunate ladies who had accom-
panied the wanderings of Bruce until his scanty
resources could sustain them no longer. Of
those who had been sent to the shelter of Kil-
drummy, his queen, Elizabeth, not judging the
castle strong enough to protect her, had resolved
to betake herself to that sanctuai-y where even
felons and murderers were safe under the
powerful guardianship of the church. With
her young step-daughter Mai'jory, whose very
childhood had been doomed to share in the suf-
ferings of her country, the anxious queen set
out for the sanctuary of St. Duthac, at Tain in
Uoss-shire, accompanied by an armed escort
from the garrison of Kildrummy. But the
Earl of Ross, under a craven dread of Edward,
violated the sanctuary, took the ladies and their
escort prisonei-s, and sent them to the English
king, who threw the ladies into prison, where
they endured eight years of captivity, and exe-
cuted the knights and squires who had accom-
panied them as traitora. Mary and Christina,
the sisters of Bruce, who afterwards fell into
liis hands, were also imprisoned, tlie former in a
ca'je built for the purpose in one of the outer
turrets of the castle of Berwick, and the latter
in a convent. Nor did that heroic lady escape
who had so boldly repaired to Scone that she
might fultil, as a Macduff', the sacred obligations
of a Scottish coronation by placing the king
upon the royal seat. Isabella, Counte.ss of
Buchan, was made prisoner at Tain, and licr
t)lace of confinement was also a cage constructed
in one of the turrets of Berwick Castle similar
to that whicli contained the Lady Mary Bruce.
These strange places of bondage were latticed

and cross-barred with wood and secured with
iron, so that while they were strong enough to
prevent escape or rescue, they were so open that
the noble captives, in spite of their i-ank and sex,
were exposed to the ribald gaze of all who passed
by. In this place of shameful captivity the
countess was immured during four long j'ears.'
While such were Edward's modes of dealing
with priests and ladies, no mercy was to be
expected for those gallant knights and nobles
who were not so fortunate as to perish in the
battle-field. Of these one of the bravest and
best -beloved of the Scottish nation was Sir
Christopher de Seton, brother-in-law of Robert
Bruce, whom he was also accused of having
abetted in the murder of Comyn.^ After having
fought for his royal brother until the cause
seemed hopeless he took shelter, it is said, in
liis castle of Loch Doon ; but he was betrayed
into the hands of the English liy a false Scot, a
" disciple of Judas " named MacNab, according
to Barbour, who, kindling into rage at the deed
and forgetting his priestly character, exclaims,
"For thLs may he be condemned to hell!"
Seton was hurried to Dumfries, and after a short
trial was hanged as a traitor and an assistant
in the death of Comyn. So dear was he to his
brother-in-law that when better times succeeded
Bruce erected a little chapel on the spot where
he had been executed, and caused masses to be
said there for his soul. As if to show that even
a participation in his own royal blood could be
no protection to those who partook in the Scot-
tish rebellion, Edward selected for another of
his victims John de Strathbogie, Earl of A thole,
his own cousin, being the sou of Matilda of
Doune, the aunt of the King of England.'
Athole, however, who remembered more his
Scottish birth and nobility than his relationship
to the English tyrant, had attended Bruce at
his coronation, fought for him at Methven, and
afterwards, on attempting to escape by sea,
was apprehended by the enemy. Strong inter-
cession was made on his behalf by certain Eng-
lish nobles on account of his royal descent ; Init
Edward, swearing that this should procure him
nothing more than a loftier gilibet, caused him
to be hanged on a gallows fifty feet high. When
only half-dead he was then cut down ; his en-
trails were taken out and burned before his
face, and his head, on being struck off, was sent
to join that of Wallace on London Bridge.
Edward, who at that time was suffering heavily
from disea.se, is said to liave experienced great
relief from his pain when lie heard of the cap-
ture of Athole.

1 Feed. Anritui, ii. 1014. 'yftitt West. p. ^.se

^ Matilil.i of Doune was daughter of Richard, the illegiti-
mate sou of King Jolm.

216

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1305-1307.

A more formidable enemy than even the Earl
of Athole also gratified, by his execution, the
remorseless rage of Edward. This was the
gallant veteran Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver
Castle, a soldier renowned in the wars of the
Continent, and afterwards in the threefold vic-
tory at Roslin, where he commanded the Scot-
tish army in conjunction with Sir John Comyn.
Only less pereevering than Wallace, to whom
he was reckoned but second in military skill
and prowess, he had yielded at last when the
other persisted to the death ; and he had been
received to mercy on such hard terms as showed
the obstinacy of his resistance and the dread he
had inspired by his deeds. But on the rising
of Bruce he was again in the field, and when it
failed he betook himself to that outlaw and
fugitive mode of life which was now the only
refuge of Scottish patriotism. Every efi'ort was
made to apprehend him, but such were his bold-
uess and ingenuity that the Scottish prisoner
who had fallen into Edward's hands had said
confidently that Fraser could not be taken. But
he was at last overpowered and compelled to
surrender after an unsuccessful stand at Kh-k-
enclifi', near Stirling; and on being sent to Lou-
don he was brought into the city loaded with
chains, and with his legs tied under the horse's
belly, while in mockery his head was crowned
with a wreath of periwinkle. His trial and
sentence were also similar to those of Wallace,
and fulfilled with the same hori id circumstances,
even to the exposure of his head, which was also
set up beside that of the champion of Scotland
upon London Bridge. His body, indeed, was not
dismembered, to be sent to the principal towns
in Scotland; but it was hung in chains, and
strictly guai'ded that no one might give it
burial.

These were but a few of the Scottish victims
of Edward, the gleanings of those fields over
which the harvest of battle had passed, and
that were as carefully coUected as if the soil
had been doomed never more to produce the
fair fruits of heroic patriotism and national
independence. And still, as the capture of more
and yet more prisoners was reported, their fate
was collectively sealed by the king from his
sick-bed in the brief sentence, " Hang and
draw ! " which he exclaimed with his utmost
strength and grinning with rage.^ And thus
the axe, the cord, and fire were kept in con-
stant exercise. And fearful must have been
the misgivings and anticipations of those Scot-
tish persons of noble and knightly rank, to the
number of twenty-seven, who were confined in
English prisons, any of whom an additional

' Barbour, book ill. 1. 550.

twinge of Edward's grievous malady might have
sent to the scaffold.

From these painful episodes we return to the
regular course of events. And here the eye na-
tui-ally reverts to the castle of KUdrummy, the
only stronghold which Bruce possessed in Scot-
land, and to the handful of gallant defenders
who, under his young brother. Sir Nigel, had
resolved to hold it out against the whole force
of England. Under such circumstances it was
not unadvisedly that Queen Elizabeth, fearing
the event, had withdrawn from it with her step-
daughter Marjory, although the close of her
flight was so unfortunate. Resolved to win this
last hope of the Scottish rebels, Edward com-
manded the Earls of Lancaster and Hereford to
besiege it in due form, and destroy all that held
it without ransom, or take them prisonera with-
out conditions. Barbour also adds the not un-
likely circumstance, that with these earls he
sent his son Edward, Prince of Wales. He
must have felt, indeed, that his own end could
not be far distant, and he was anxious to be-
queath his ambitious purposes towards Scotland
as a sacred legacy to him who .should succeed him
in the throne, and to train him in the warfare
by which the conquest was to be secured. The
castle thus assailed maintained a gallant resist-
ance, and as it was strong and well provisioned
there was every prospect of a long-continued
siege. But there was a traitor named Osborne
among the garrison, who set fire to the gi-anai-y
by throwing among the grain a piece of red-
hot iron, and their corn being thus destroyed,
the defenders were obliged to yield. The pri-
sonei-s were sent to Berwick, where the chief of
them were tried, and as a matter of coui-se exe-
cuted. The fate of Nigel Bruce, the young, and
brave, and courteous, who excelled in that per-
sonal beauty by which his family were distin-
guished, and whose bright but brief career was
terminated on the scaffold, where he was hanged
and quartered, excited not only the deep sorrow
of aU Scottish hearts, but even the commisera-
tion of his enemies.-

Thus was the measui-e of Brace's punishment
by the close of this year (1306) apparently filled
up. In addition to these suflerings with which
he had been visited through the merciless exe-
cutions inflicted upon his friends and kindred,
and the alienation of aU his estates both Scot-
tish and English, which Edward bestowed upon
English nobles, he was solemnly excommuni-
cated by the church, and the sentence pro-
nounced in February (1306-7) at Carlisle by
Cardinal St. Sabinus,^ with all those imposing
accompaniments which made it more feai-ful in

■ Matt. Westminst. ; Barbour. ' Hemingford.

A.D. 1307-1312.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

217

the eye.s of men than the worst doom of any I existed, he was now an utterly bereaved and
earthly tribunal. Hopeless, indeed, must his doubly branded criminal, with heaven and earth
case have been accounted, when, if he stUl equally closed upon his recovery.

CHAPTEE YL.

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE CONTINUED— ROBERT BRUCE (1307-1312).

Sir James Douglas crosses from Raohrin to Arran — Defeats an English escort — Bruce lands in Arran — He
passes over to Carrick — Tlie false beacon — Bruce defeats a party of English soldiers at Tumberry — -Douglas
surprises his own castle of Douglasdale — The "Douglas Larder" — Bruce kills three conspirators — Defeat
and execution of Bruce's brothers — Bruce pursued by the men of Galloway — His single-handed defence of
a ford — Douglas defeats the garrison who held his castle — Bruce defeated by the Earl of Pembroke and
Lord Lorn — His escape from the pursuit — He kills three assassins — He defejits the English at Glentruel —
Douglas defeats the English at MakjTuock — Bruce's victory over the Earl of Pembroke at Loudon Hill —
He defeats the Earl of Gloucester — Edward I. makes a dying attempt to invade Scotland — His death at
Burgh-upon-Sands — Imbecile proceedings of Edward II. in Scotland — Bruce's victor)' at Old Meldrum —
Successes of the Scots — Victories of Edward Bi-uce iu Galloway — Douglas again captures his paternal
castle — Takes Sir Thomas Randolph prisoner — Randolph reconciled to his uncle — Bruce's victory over the
Lord of Lorn — Recognitions of his royal authority — Edward 11. ineffectually invades Scotland — Invasion
of England by Bruce — His capture of Perth — Growing helplessness of Edward II. — Bruce a third time
invades England.

In the meantime the fortunes of Scotland
were inclosed within the little island of Rachi-in.
So obscure was this place, and so remote from
intercourse with the world, that it seemed ex-
pressly fitted to ensure the full safety of the
fugitives; and the belief was prevalent over
England and Scotland, both with friend and
foe, that Bruce must be assuredly dead — that
nothing but the grave itself could be the cause
of 8uch silence. But this concealment, in spite
of its advantages, became intolerable to those
swelling adventurous spirits, that longed to be
free and emjjloyed once more in a world of
enterprise and danger. Accordingly, after the
dreai'y winter had passed and spring com-
menced, this feverish yearning for action was
expressed by Sir James Dougla.s, who thought
it foul shame that they should be a useless
burden upon the poor islanders, when c;istles
were to be surprised, and Englishmen put to the
sword.' Having obtained tlie king's permission,
he crossed with Sir Robert Boyd to the island
of Arran to attempt the surprise of the castle of
Brodick, with the defences of which they were
well acquainted. As the building wa-s strongly
garrisoned with English soldiers under the
command of Sir John Hastings, Douglas, who
had landed by night, placed his small party in
ambush, and waited till three boats arrived
near the jilace commanded by the under warden,
and laden with provisions, arms, and clothing

1 Barbour.

for the garrison. Douglas and his followers
instantly attacked the escort, slew forty of the
soldiers, and captured their whole cargo. He
then intrenched himseLf in a secure pail of the
island to wait the arrival of the king, while the
enemy, unaware of the smaU number of their
assailants, kept within the protection of their
walls.

On the tenth day Bruce himself landed in
Arran with all his company conveyed in thirty-
three vessels which had been suppUed by Chris-
tina of the Isles. In stepping upon the cliff-
crowned shore of that romantic island of rock
and promontory his fii-st anxiety was to find the
hiding-place of his advanced party under the
gallant Douglas, and three blasts upon his horn
that reached the dell in which they were living
in free outlaw fashion proclaimed his approach,
and brouglit them speedily to his side. As his
own fair coast of Carrick loomed distinctly in
the distance, where he hoped to find faithful
retainers, he resolved to commence his opera-
tions there, and begin with an attack upon his
castle of Tumberry, now strongly garrisoned
by English soldiers under Sir Henry Percy. It
was necessary, however, to ascertain the strength
of the enemy and the disiX)sitions of the people
for a rising; and for this purpose he sent his
trusty servant Cuthbert to the opposite coast,
with ordei-s, if he found mattere favourable for
a landing, to kindle a tire upon a certain emin-
ence near Tuniberiy Ciustle :is tlie signal. The
king iu the meantime travereed the beach with

218

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1307-1312.

his eye fixed upon the appointed spot of warn-
ing, and at the time he Lad specified a bonfire
gleamed upon the hill-top, and sent its cloudy
pillar high into the air. The mission of Cuthbert,
therefore, had been successful : Scotland might
yet be redeemed. There was an instant hurrying
to the beach and launching of skiffs upon the
water. When Bruce was about to step on board,
the poor woman who had been his hostess during
his short stay in Arran brought to him her two
sons, and assuring him in her character of pro-
phetess that he would triumph over all his ene-
mies, she besought him to enlist her sons in his
dangers, and reward them when he became king.
He embarked and would have landed ia Carrick
in fidl daylight ; but fortunately for his cause
on this occasion the wind was against him, so
that night set in, and the weary rowers were
obliged to direct their course by the beacon-
light that stiU continued to blaze. But on land-
ing near the point of Turnberry, they found
Cuthbert awaiting them with sorrowful tidings.
The garrison in the castle was fully 300 strong:
two parties of the enemy were quartered in the
town ; and the hearts of the people of Cai'rick
were so utterly quelled, that there was no hope
of their assistance. "Traitor!" cried the king
in arage, "why,then, did you kindle the fire?"
"Alas, sir!" replied the man, "the fire was not
made by me ; but, observing it and fearing it
might deceive you, I hurried hither to warn you
of your danger." In this strait a consultation
Was held ; but the impetuous Edward Bruce,
declaring that no peril on land should drive
him back to the sea, and that he would follow
the adventure whether for good or evil, quickly
swayed the rest and overcame Robert's hesita-
tion, who resolved to attack the parties in the
town in the midst of their careless security.
This was done; and the night a.ssault was so
successful that 200 of the enemy were piit to
the sword, while the garrison in the castle, who
heard the din of conflict, were too much alarmed
to sally out to the rescue. The conquerora were
richly rewarded with the spoil, among which
were Percy's household plate and war-horses.'
Three days did the king remain in the neigh-
bourhood of the castle while the English con-
fined themselves within its walls; and during
this period a lady of high rank, a kinswoman of
his own, but whose name has not been men-
tioned, came to Bruce with supplies of money
and refreshments, and a reinforcement of forty
men. Seldom, indeed, was even a hero of
romance so heroically and bountifully aided
by woman's generous devotedness as this fugi-
tive and persecuted king: in his sufferings they

I Hemingford ; Barbour.

were ever ready to suffer with him, and in want
to relieve him, even though their kinsmen
should stand aloof or be opposed to him. Alas,
that a spirit so pure aud noble should also have
been so undiscriminating as finally to settle
upon the head of his unworthy descendant, the
" Young Chevalier ! "

In the meantime the English soldiei-s in Turn-
berry Castle, as well as the still greater i)arty in
that of Ayr, confined themselves within theu'
strongholds ; a mysterious dread of their oppo-
nents, from the uncertainty of their numbeis
and resources, prevented them from entering
the field — in which case Bruce and his party
might have been overpowered or dispersed.
At length, on learning that a reinforcement
of a thousand soldiers from Northumberland,
under Sir Roger St. John, were marching to
the relief of Turnberry Castle, Bruce retired
before the arrival of this superior force and
took refuge among the mountainous parts of the
district. His cause was stiU in imminent hazard,
as none of the inhabitants of Carrick had joined
his banner ; and it was only from the lady who
had lately left him that he learned the calami-
ties that had befallen his friends during his
absence in Rachrin. He thus found that his
castle of Kildrummy was in the hands of the
enemy; that his beloved brother Nigel and his
brave associates had been butchered by a judi-
cial sentence; and that Athole, Seton, and other
noble friends had died on the scafibld. The king
vowed a severe retribution, and only waited
for the opportunity.

Wliile he was thus shifting among the moun-
tains as he best could, his adventurous follower,
Sir James Douglas, resolved to attempt the
recovery of his native castle of Douglas, whicli
Edward had bestowed upon Lord Clifford, who
now occupied it with a strong English garrison.
Having obtained Bruce's permission. Sir James
set off upon his hardy enterprise attended only
by two yeomen — " a simple staff," says Barbour,
" to take a land or a castle witlial." But he
knew the devotedness of his faithful vassals,
and that he should find them ready in the hour
of need. He was received in the house of his
trusty tenant named Dickson ; and in disguise
he was enabled to travel over Douglasdale, visit
his people, and lay plans for the coming on-
slaught. Palm Sunday, which was at hand,
was tlie day appointed, and the place the kh-k
of St. Bride, at which the country people as
well as the soldiers of the ganison would meet
as on common gi-ound with palm branches in
their hands in honour of the festival. Sir James
and an armed party, but with their weapons con-
cealed, entei-ed the church unsuspected among
the worshippers, and in the midst of the service

I

A.D. 1307-1312.] ROBERT BRUCE.

suddenly threw off their disguises, shouted the
dreaded wai'-cry, "A Douglas ! a Douglas !" and
feU upon the English soldiers. A furious conflict
ensued, for the enemy, though so unexpectedly
assailed, made a brave resistance; but at length
the whole, to the number of thiily, were killed
or taken prisoners. He then proceeded to the
defenceless castle, which he plundered of all
that was worth carrying away, after which he
made a pile of the malt, corn, and provisions,
staved the casks of wine and other liquors
amidst the heap, crowned the loathsome mass
with the bodies of the pi'isoners, whose heads
were struck off without mercy, and set the
whole, with the ca.stle itself, on fire. He knew
that he could not garrison the home of his
fathers, and he was resolved that it should give
no shelter to the enemy. But the savageness
of the deed, although it was commemorated
as a choice pleasantry under the title of the
" Douglas Larder," and although it has been
extenuated by the declaration that only ten
prisoners thus suffered, will ever remain a foul
blot upon the otherwise stainless reputation of
the "good Lord James."

During the absence of this gallant partisan
the difficulties of the Scottish king continued
to multiply. De Valence, Earl of Pembroke, on
hearing of his landing in Carrick, sent a strong
force to Ayr under Sir Ingram Bell, who, being
unable to reach the royal fugitive, resolved to
entrap him, as had been done in the case of
Wallace and other patriots. He therefore tam-
pered with an inhabitant of Carrick who often
had communications with Bruce; and this traitor,
with his two sons, engaged either to assassinate
the king or give him into the hands of the Eng-
lish. Bruce continued to trust them until he
received a private hint which put him on his
guard. These men, knowing his place of daily
retirement, planted themselves in ambush, and
on his appearance approached as if for friendly
intercourse; Imt suspecting their pur])Ose, he
sternly warned them back. They still endea-
voured to win upon his guard; and as they
were powerful and well-armed men, while
Bnice had no weapon but his sword and no
attendant but a boy, every step of their aiivance
made his peril more imminent. Finding they
were resolute to reach him, he snatched the
bow from his page and sent a well-directed
arrow into the eye of the old man, which pene-
trated to his brain. The two sons instantly
rushed upon Bruce, the one armed with sword
and axe and the other witli sword and spear ;
but in the encounter he cleft the s]ieai'smaii's
head asunder, and sent that of the other brother
flying from his shouldere. " May our Lord be
praised ! " ejaculated the wondering boy, " who

219

has given you such might as to rjuell three
enemies in so short a space!" "They would
have been worthy men, all three of them," said
the compassionate hero, " had they not been
full of treason, which has undone them." The
warning which saved him on this as well as
other similar occasions he is supposed to have
received from affectionate women, who were
captivated by his personal appearance as well
as his high rank and adventurous career.^

The king continued to hold his flying camp
in Carrick with not more than 200 followers,
but in houily expectation of the arrival of his
brothers, Thomas and Alexander, from Ireland,
to which he had sent them for reinforcements.
Tliey were so successful that they collected 700
Irish soldiers, with whom they crossed over to
Loch Ryan in Galloway. But here their career
teiTuinated. MacdowaU, one of the chiefs of
Galloway, but in the interests of England, had
prepared for their arrival ; and on their troo) is
attempting to land he attacked and completely
defeated them, and took both Thomas and
Alexander Bruce prisoners after they had been
severely wounded in the engagement. Regard-
less of their wounds and sufferings, they were
carried at once to England and presented to
Edward at Carlisle, who instantly ordered them
to execution and caused then- heads to be set
upon the gates of the castle and towu.^

Calamities once more had deepened around
the cai'eer of the heroic Bruce, and of the biave
band of brothei-s who had gathered by his side
and fought in his cause none remained but
Edward. He was now so stinted in provisions
that he seldom had around him more than sixty
followei-s at one time ; while the GaUowegians,
flushed with their- late success, gathered closer
upon his track and endeavoured to hunt him
down with bloodhounds. At one time when his
band was thus reduced, the rest being scattered
abroad in quest of provisions, the men of Gal-
loway to the number of 200, and directed by
the keen quest of the bloodhounds they had
brought with them, threaded the woods and
morasses and advanced nigh his encampment.
Warned of their coming by his sentinels, Bruce
hastily withdrew his troops across a mountain-
river that had only a single ford and posted
them in a bog about two bow-shots off. Hav-

1 *' I w.ite nocht quha the warnjTig maid ;
Bot on all tym sic hap he hail.
That quhen men schup thaim to betraiss.
He gat witting tharoff all wajns ;
And mony tyme as I herd say,

Throu weraen

That waJd tell all that thai mycht her,
And swa mycht happjni tlmt it fell ther."
- Harbour, h. v. 1.
' M. Westminster; Langtoft; Ikmingford.

220

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1307-1312.

ing thus led them to a secure position, he left
them under the command of Sir Gilbert de la
Haye, and i-eturned to the ford to watch the
motions of the enemy, attended only by two
men. It was now night; he could hear distinctly
the baying of a hound and the voices of the
piu-suei's that cheered it on; but anxious to
learn their- purposes fully, and finding that they
designed to cross the river, he sent his two
attendants to give the alarm to his party, re-
solving in the meantime to make good the ford
single-handed until they arrived. The place
was favourable to such a daring purpose, for
the banks were steep and rugged ; the gorge at
which he took his stand was so narrow that he
could not be easily suri'ounded, wlule the ford
in front of him could scaixely give passage to
more than one at a time. A long file of the
enemy entered the water, but as fast as they
came within reach of his spear five of them
successively were lifeless corpses floating down
the river. The boldest paused; this startling
interruption was most unexpected; but the
light of the moon, that revealed the fate of
their companions, also glittered upon the king's
mail and showed that they had only a single
enemy to deal with. Enraged and ashamed,
they redoubled their efforts to win the landing
and overwhelm their opponent ; but the mighty
arm and good weapon of Bruce soon raised such
a rampai-t of fallen men and hoi-ses in fi-ont of
him as to make the difficulties of the assailants
more perilous. "Ah, dear God !" exclaims Bar-
bour in a transport of admiration, " whoever
had been by and seen how hardily he adch-essed
himself against them all, I wot well that they
would have called him the best that lived in
his day!" On the hasty arrival of the king's
party the Gallowegians fled, while Bruce was
found by his friends unwounded, but hot with
his exertions, sitting on the ground and wiping
his brow, having taken off his helmet for the
pur-pose, while the bodies of fourteen dead
enemies attested his successful prowess. At the
spectacle his men declared that henceforth they
would fear nothing, since their chief had been
so brave and mighty and had adventured upon
such an enterprise in their behalf.^

The shifting drama of chivahoiis events now
suddenly transports us to Douglasdale, where
its gallant lord, after the suiprise of his castle,
had betaken himself with his companions to the
greenwood. But the castle had been rebuilt in
greater strength than ever, and intrusted to
the keeping of one Thirlwall, whom Sir James
Douglas was resolved, if possible, to eject. He
therefore laid an ambush of his men at a place

1 Barboul, b. iv. 1. 970.

called Sandilands, near the castle, and at an
early hour- of the morning sent a small party to
allure the garrison into the fields by driving ofi'
some cattle that were feeding in their neigh-
bourhood. The bait took ; for, indignant that
the Scots should dare to plunder so near him,
Thir-lwall rushed out in such haste that he did
not take time to put on his helmet, and was
followed by a large part of the garrison. The
spoilers fled, but it was only to allure the pur-
suei-s into the ambush upon which they most
imexpectedly stumbled, and by whom they were
assailed, sti-uck down, and routed before they
could recover from their confusion. The sur-
vivors fled to the castle, followed pell-mell by
the Scots, who would also have entered with the
fliei-s, but for the precaution of those within the
castle, who hastOy baned the gates and manned
the ramparts. As it was, however, the presence
of Douglas in the district and his successful
exploits had roused the drooping spirits of the
Scottish patriots, and made the keeping of his
castle a task of dread and danger to his enemies.
Having learned in the course of his nimble
movements that Aymer de Valence, Earl of
Pembroke, was collecting a gi-eat force both of
English and Scots to assail Bruce and crush the
insurrection. Sir James gathered all the fol-
lowers he could, and joined his master at Cum-
nock in Ajrrshire.

The difliculties of Bruce were not yet ended.
The Earl of Pembroke advanced into Carrick
with a formidable array, and was reinforced by
John of Lorn at the head of 800 Highlanders.
Bruce, who was ignorant of this addition, re-
solved to give battle to Pembroke, although he
had not more than 400 men. He accordiugly
became the assailant; but while he was engaged
in front with both English and Scots, among
the latter of whom was his own nephew Ran-
dolph, now in the service of England, the men
of Lorn, to whom this mountain warfare was
familiar and who had been concealed in ambush
till the decisive moment, fell upon his rear.
This unexpected shock turned the tide of battle
against him, and his small ai-ray would have
been ovei-powered and cut to pieces, but for the
rule which he had already provided for any such
emergency. It was, that his troops should has-
tily disperse in parties and by different direc-
tions, so as to disconcert the pursuers, and after-
wards rally at a cei-tain given point when the
danger was over. His soldiers accordingly re-
tired in three bands ; but Lorn, who had a High-
land blood-feud against the king, stuck close to
the party which Bruce commanded, and was
assisted effectually in the ]iui-suit not only by
his nimble keen-eyed foOowei-s but by a blood-
hound once belonging to Bruce himself, which

A.D. 1307-1312.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

221

they liad brought with them to track its old
master. Perilous, therefore, wa-s the chase, and
closely followed, while five of the fleetest High-
landers, who had been selected for the service,
overtook Bruce, who was in the rear of his party.
He turned round upon the assaUants and struck
four of them down in quick succession, while
the fifth was despatched by his henchman, who
was also his foster-brother. The pair, now left
alone with the chase in full cry, and the hound
at its head, were fain to plunge into a thick
wood through which, fortunately for them, ran
a brook; for, by wading a bow.shot down the
stream before they crossed it, the hound lost
the scent, and could track them no farther.
According to another tradition the troublesome
animal was arrested by an an-ow shot by one
of Bruce's foUowers from behind a thicket. It
is said, also, that in this battle Sir Thomas Ran-
dolph captured his uncle's banner, and for this
exploit was held in great favoui- by the English
king. Having thus thrown off the pursuers,
Bruce and his companion in danger were pro-
ceeding to the appointed place of rendezvous,
when they were met by three suspicious-looking
men well armed, one of them carrying a sheep,
who pretended they were in search of the king,
and desirous to join him. Although he did not
reveal himself, they suspected that he was the
Bruce, and invited him to a lone deserted hut
on their way, where they dressed part of the
sheep for his entertainment. After dinner he
lay down to rest, his follower keeping guard
over him. It wa-s now the time for the ruffians,
who intended to betray the king to the English:
they advanced upon the faithful sentinel, whom
they slew; but before he fell he was able to
waken his master, who was upon his feet in an
instant. The combat that followed was brief,
for such was the gigantic sti-eugth of Bruce, the
goodness of his armour, and his skill in using
his weapons, that the three traitors were soon
laid lifeless on the floor.

On arriving at the rendezvous Bruce found
not only his own party who liad preceded him,
but also his brother Edward and Sir James
Douglas, with a reinforcement of 150 men.
Resolved to act once more on the ofiensive, and
trusting in the security of his enemies, who sup-
posed him to be at a distance and in full flight,
he sui-prised 200 English, an advanced party of
Pembroke's army, who were carelessly cantoned
about a mile or two apart from the main body,
and put them to the sword. Weary of such a
kind of warfai'e, or hoping to entrap such a
wakeful enemy, Pembroke then withdrew hira-
Belf to Carlisle, taking care, however, to appoint
spies wlio should advertise him of all Bruce's
movements. Soon after, he;u-ing that the latter

was deer-hunting with all his company in Glen-
truel, the earl rode in haste from Carlisle with
a large body of cavalry, and arrived in secrecy
by night within a mile of the Scottish encamp-
ment. But his purpose was discovered from one
of his own spies, who was arrested by the Scots;
and Bi-uce at the head of 300 men was so well
prejiared for the encounter that the assailants,
to the number of 1500, who had dLsmounted
and advanced on foot in full security, were
themselves surprised at a thick part of the
wood and fairly put to the rout. Indignant at
their defeat the English leaders quarrelled
among themselves, and Pembroke was forced
to return to Carlisle. Bruce having thus ob-
tained a free interval, employed it so efl'ectually
that he soon reduced the three districts of Car-
rick, Kyle, and Cunningham to obedience, and
dispossessed the English of the strengths they
held in Ayrshire. About the same time, or
soon after, Pembroke, having detached 1000
men under the command of Sir Philip Mow-
bray to advance from Bothwell into Kyle and
Cunningham for the purpose of arresting the
progress of Bruce, was met at Makyrnock by
an ambush laid by Sii- James Doughis, consist-
ing of only forty men. They were planted,
however, on a naiTow way between two mo-
rasses where cavalry could not act, and through
which the enemy had to defile ; and here the
English were attacked at a point where their
ranks only encumbered them, and with such
suddenness and vigour that they fled back in
disorder to BothweU, leaving sixty of their com-
panions dead on the field. As for Mowbray
himself, he had advanced so far into the pass
that retreat was impossible, and he only escaped
by spurring his horae through the Scots, and
riding at full speed by Kilmarnock, Kilwinning,
Ardrossan, and Largs, to the English garrison
at Inverkip.

It was by such skirmishes, insignificant as they
may appear, that the affairs of Bruce were re-
trieved when their state seemed utterly despe-
rate. He was now a matchless knight of whose
personal deeds hLs followers were justly proud,
a skilful and successful leader whom they could
confidently follow, and each man felt as if a
threefold might were in his own right arm
under such guidance and example. This in-
spiration, the best and surest promise of success,
was soon after manifested at Loudon Hill, wliere
Bannockburn itself was singularly prefaced both
in its movements and results.

The late encountei-s, in which his troops were
so utterly defeated by a few, seem to have
roused to full height the indignation of the Earl
of Pembroke : he must have felt not only that
his military reputation was disgraced, but his

222

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

authority as Guardian of Scotland put in im-
minent perO. Such reflections, too, could
scarcely be mitigated by the thought that the
actor of these deeds was one whom at the outset
he had baiHed, defeated, and driven into exile
and obscurity. Resolving, therefore, to retrieve
his character as publicly as it had been lowered
and sunk, he sent a herald to Bruce, now at
Galston, and in the full career of his success,
informing him that on the 10th of May he pur-
posed to come to Loudon Hill, and inviting him,
if he dared, to meet him then and there. This
chivalrous invitation Bruce courteously accepted,
and doubtless it was with the resolution that no
such mistake should occur as that which had
happened at Methven. He carefidly surveyed
the place of meeting, which was in the neigh-
bourhood of Galston, and made ample prepara-
tions for the reception of Aymer de Valence.
His small force, almost entirely of infantry, and
amounting only to GOO, he drew up upon a road
that led through a piece of dry level gi-ound
bounded on either side by extensive and deep
morasses ; and, to prevent it from being out-
flanked on either vping by the overwhelming
cavab'y that were certain to be brought against
him, he drew deep trenches on either side so as
to aDow his army to be assailed only in front,
and by not more than about 500 men. Three
several sets of these trenches were also drawn
on either side, that his troops might have as
many rallying points in succession before they
coidd be overpowered. Within this narrow
range, jirotected alike in flank and rear, this little
army of spearmen was drawn up; and to the
eye that judged according to the military stan-
dard of the period, it must have appeared miser-
ably inadequate to encounter the storm that was
to bui-st upon it. But Bruce, who had tried
the materials of which that little comjaact mass
was composed, knew that it was a rock aj-ound
which the whirlwinds might rage in vain, and
against which the biUows might dash only to be
broken and battled.

Very different was the appearance of the Eng-
lish array which advanced impatient for the
onset. It consisted of 3000 well-armed cavalry,
and the splendour of their appointments, as de-
scribed by the poetical hi-storian, was such as
to give war its most attractive aspect. Their
polished helmets, he tells us, glittered in the
sun; the light of their speai-s, pennons, and
shields flashed over the whole field ; their ban-
ners of various coloure waved aloft, while the
coat-armour and hauberks of the knights im-
parted to the wearere the dazzling appearance
of angels.' Pembroke had ;irranged them in two

[a.d. 1307-1312.

hues, and he ordered the firet to advance to the
charge. With heads lowered and lances couched,
the living torrent of man, horse, and steel came
on at full speed ; it seemed impossible that any
opposing force could check such a career ; but
they were met by the close unflinching array of
Scottish spears and brought to a pause — they
were sent reeling backward, and in a short time
100 steeds were flying masterless over the held
or floundering in the morasses. Giving them
no time to recover, Bruce advanced upon them
with his main body, and charged with such
vigour that the front and rear ranks of the
English were soon mixed together, and incap-
able of a fresh onset ; the panic among them
became universal ; and the hasty flight which
followed was that of men who had been thrown
in one instant from the height of presumptuous
confidence tothedeepest despair. It was,indeed,
not only a glorious victory to the Scots, but
easily won ; for, after the first terrible repidse,
the enemy seem to have offered little resistance,
and been more eager to escape to BothweLl than
to rally for a fresh onset. That men, habitually
so brave in an open field, should have been so
easily turned to a shameful flight, can only be
attributed to that new and peiplexiug mode of
warfare which was thenceforth to be the chief
characteristic of Scottish campaigns. After a
long period of forgetfulness the old lessons of
warfare were revived, and the proud chivalry
of the middle ages were to be taught that the
might of a nation lies among its people at large,
and the strength of an ai-niy in its steady com-
pact infantry.

Only three days after this signal victory at
Loudon Hill Bruce gained another over Ralph
Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester, whom he de-
feated with gi-eat slaughter and chased into the
castle of Ayr, to which he immediately laid
siege. To this, perhaps, he was the more in-
clined, as not only Gloucester, but also his chief
antagonist, the Earl of Pembroke, had taken
shelter within the castle.

While the cause of Bruce was thus reviving
and the liberties of Scotland were once more in
controvereyjthe condition of Edward of England
was daily becoming more pitiable. He had only
been withheld from the field by a painful and
wasting sickness which had long confined him
to his couch at Carlisle, where his feverish irri-
tation at the successive tidings of Scottish re-
volts and skirmishes could only be soothed by
fresh executions of his prisoners. Weary of
dictating militai-y operations in which he could
not share, and at last provoked beyond endur-
ance by the defeats of his gi-eat captains, Pem-
broke and Gloucester, the king issued an order
for his militiiry vassals to repair to him at Car-

..D. 1307-1312.]

EGBERT BRUCE.

223

lisle three weeks after the feast of John the
Baptist. This was to be the last and most
decisive of all his Scottish campaigns, and also
the most terrible and merciless, while the energy
of his piu-pose so invigorated his feeble frame
that he believed his recovery from sickness to
have ab-eady and fully commenced. Under this
flattering hope, and to dispel the reports of his
death which even already were in circulation,
he oflfered up the horse-litter which he had used
in journeying, in the cathedral of Carlisle, and
once more mounted his war-steed. But it was a
useless eflfort, for in four days he could only
advance six miles, when he reached the little
village of Burgh-upon-Sands on the Ctli of July
(1307). Nothing more of the world now re-
mained for him but a single day of life ; and
its houre as they passed must have been filled
not only with bitter regrets, but ominous fears
and surmisings. For Scotland was still uncon-
quered, while the character of his son and suc-
cessor was such that instead of winning another
kingdom he was more likely to lose his own.
As such a ruler as Edward was not likely to
pass away from the earth without prophetic
warning, at least in popular rejiort, a story of
this kind which was afterwards current among
the Scots has been devoutly rehearsed by Bar-
bour. According to this legend, when Edward
at the last stage of his journey and life alighted
or was lifted to the ground, he asked the name
of the village ; and on being told that it was
Burgh-upon-Sands, he exclaimed, "Ah me ! my
hope is now fordone; for I weened that I
should never have tasted the pain of death
until through my prowess I had won the burgh
of Jeiiisalem, and that there I should die.
Here, then, my journey is ended."' Breathing
with difficulty and speaking in a very low voice,-
he uttered the testament of a dying man ; and
it was in full accordance with his character and
the whole purpose of his life. His heart was to
be conveyed to the Holy Land, and 100 knights
were to be maintained there for a whole year in
honour of the cross and in defence of the Holy
Sepulchre. As for his body, it was to be carried
into Scotland with the expedition, and not con-
signed to a tomb until the country was com-
pletely subdued. Froissart has thus detailed
this singular part of the dying king's chai-ge :
"When he perceived that he could not recover,

' Thi3 will remind the readers of English liistory or
Shakspere of Henry IV., who expected to die in Jeni-
Baleni, and fniind that the neighbouring chamber in which
he was to breathe his last was called by that name.
' " Ho wes sa stad, that he na mocht
Hys aynd hot with gret paynys draw;
Na spek hot gilf it war weill law "

—Barbour, book iii. 1. 42«.

he called to him his eldest son, who was after-
wards king, and made him swear, in pre.sence of
all his barons, by the saints, that as soon as he
should be dead he would have his body boiled
in a large cauldron untO the flesh should be
separated from the bones; that he should have
the flesh buried and the bones preserved; and
that every time the Scots should rebel against
him he should summon his people and carry with
him the bones of his father; for he believed most
firmly that, as long as his bones should be car-
ried against the Scots, they would never be vic-
torious." ^

Edward of Carnarvon, who succeeded to the
English throne as Edward II., was not the pru-
dent king and able warrior who was needed to
carry out his father's dying request ; and he was
more anxious for the society of his worthless
minion, Gaveston, who had been banished from
the kingdom, than for the recovery of Scotland
to the English crown. Had he but possessed a
tithe of his father's energetic spirit, he would
instantly have crossed the border, and with the
powerful aimy at his disposal and the Scottish
lords who would have joined his banner he
might havesucceeded even yet in crushing the in-
surrection, and dispersing the handful of its sup-
porters. But his proceedingsatCarlisleweiesuch
as Bruce himself, or Edward'sworst enemy, could
have wished. He recalled Gaveston from exile.
He loitered three weeks at Carlisle for the arri-
val of more troops, although every hour of delay
was equal to a defeat. And as if to show even
already his indiflerence about the conquest of
Scotland, he caused his father's body to be com-
mitted to the royal tomb at Westminster. After
these useless preliminaries he marched to Dum-
fries, where he received the homage of certain
Scottish nobles who were in theEnglish interests,
and executed a grant of the earldom of Cornwall
and other princely possessions which had be-
longed to his cousin Edmund in favour of the in-
famous Gaveston, by whom he was speedily
joined in Scotland. Then rousing himself to a
semblance of action, he held onward in his course
as far as Cumnock, on the borders of Ayi-shire;
but there, instead of commencing the danger-
ous chase after Bruce, whose lair he had ap-
proached, he suddenly wheeled about and hastily
returned to England.

Very difi'erent were the proceedings of his
active antagonist. As soon as tlie new king of
England had retired Bruce made an irruption
into Galloway, and, mindful of their inveterate
hostility to the cause of national indejiendence
and the defeat and execution of his brothere, he
wiisted the ten'itories of the Gallowcgians with

> Froissart (Johnes' translationX chap. zzt. p. 70.

224

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1307-1312.

fire and sword. The Earl of Richmond, whom
Edward II. had appointed Guardian of Scot-
laud, after reinstating Pembroke in the office
and almost immediately afterwards depos-
ing him, now advanced for the protection of
Galloway; but Bruce, whose interest it was for
the present to avoid committing all to a single
hazard, retired before the greatly superior force
brought against him, and went into the noi'th of
Scotland. On reaching that part of the Gram-
pian range called the Mounth, Bruce, who was
accompanied by his brother Edward, the Earl
of Lennox, Sir Gilbert de la Haye, and Sir
Robert Boyd, was here joined by Alexander and
Simon Eraser (probably sons of the brave old
Sir Simon) with their military retaiuers; and it
appears that several successful operations fol-
lowed this accession of strength. At length
Bruce was advertised that Comyn, Earl of
Buchan, aided by Sir John Mowbray, and his
nephew, Sir David de Brechin, were collecting
their forces to attack him. For him the season
was most unwelcome, for in consequence of his
toils and privations he was at present so enfeebled
that he had to be carried about in a horse-litter.
While his troops were intrenched at Old Mel-
drum, and standing on the defensive waiting for
his recovery, the enemy made a furious attack on
his outposts under de Brechin, and put his sol-
diers in that quarter to flight. Bruce was so
stung by this military insult that rage inspii-ed
him with temporary vigour ; he caused himself
to be set on horseback and supported by a man
on either side, and in this condition he led his
soldiers against the enemy, whom he routed
and pursued to the borders of Buchan. This
rough remedy of warlike exertion acting upon
an iron frame, and the exhilai-ation of success
that followed, appear to have wrought a speedy
cure, and he was able to follow up his victory
by an invasion of Comyn's territory, which he
wasted with all the severity of feudal and
hereditary hatred. Fifty years afterwards, says
Barbour, men still continued to bewaU the
" hership (that is harrying or ravaging) of
Buchan."

It was not merely where Bruce acted in per-
son that the cause of Scottish liberty now began
to triumph. Other hearts caught the inspiration
of his own, and received his successes as signals
for correspondent efforts. Such was the case in
Aberdeen, where the citizens rose against their
oppressors, stormed the castle, and put its Eng-
lish garrison to the sword. Afterwards, when
the English had collected in that quarter to
recover the town, the citizens manfully sallied
out upon them and put them to flight. Soon
after a person, evidently of station beneath
that of knighthood, whom Barbour calls Philip

the Forester of Platane,' gathered a few hardy
men like himself, with whom he surprised the
castle of Forfar by escalade, and afterwards
destroyed the fortifications by orders from the
king. Another event that must have gladdened
the affectionate heart of Bruce was the return
of Sir David de Brechin, who about this time
seceded from the cause of England and joined
his uncle with all his followers.

Independently of these indications of popular
feeling, the hazardous warfare which Bruce had
waged was such an effectual military school that
his chief captains were able to conduct ad-
venturous enterprises with his own skill and
success. Such was the case with his brother
Edward, who to the character of a fiery soldier
and reckless knight-errant had now added that
of an able leader. On being commissioned by
his brother to carry an invasion into GaDoway,
where their enemies, both Scotch and English,
were in gi-eat strength, Edward advanced to
the water of Cree, where they were assembled
to the number of 1200 men under the command
of Sir Ingelram de Umfraville, a Scottish baron
on the side of England, Sir John de St. John,
and Donegal, a powerful Gallovidian chieftain.
Of these leaders Barbour tells us Sir Ingelram
had acquired such renown that he was wont
to have a red bonnet carried before him on
the point of a spear, in token that he was the
best of all knightly champions. Although the
enemy were superior in numbers Edward Bruce
attacked them with such vigour that, after losing
200 men, they were fain to betake themselves
to flight. This success enabled Edward Bruce
to tame the wild Scots of Galloway and reduce
them to the rule of his brother. Indignant at
his late defeat, Sir John de St. John returned
from England to Galloway with 1 500 horsemen,
and hoped to surprise the victor by a forced
march ; but Edward Bruce, who was aware of
his coming, prepared for him such a reception
as was beyond even the dai-ing calculations of
chivah'y ; with but a handfid of his soldiers he re-
solved to attack this multitude and scatter them
by a dai'ing onset. Having, therefore, strongly
intrenched his infantry, he sallied out with
only 50 horsemen, gained the rear of the enemy,
and tm-ned upon them under favour of a thick
fog. But just before the moment of onset the
fog suddenly dispersed, surprise was impossible,
and it was too late to retreat with safety. Ed-
ward therefore bore down upon the English
before they recovered from their surprise at his
coming, and his first charge was so impetuous
that their front ranks reeled and were thrown

1 Pl.itaiie forest was in Forfarshire, in tlie Kirriemuir
district.

A.D. 1307-1312.] ROBERT BRUCE.

into disorder; a second attack followed as
desperate as the first ; and at a third assault
the enemy, confounded at his diuung and borne
down by his fiery valour, tied in confiusion and
at full gallop. Barbour, who is minute in de-
scribing this gallant jjassage of arms, informs us
that he received the particulars from Sir Allan
Cathcart, one of the actors in the adventure.'

We now gladly turn oiu- narrative to another
pupil of King Robert — to Sir James Douglas,
that attractive model of knighthood, in whom
skill in battle and prowess unmatched in com-
bat were so amiably blended with gentleness,
courtesy, and every knightly accomplishment.
While Edward Bruce was successfully waning
in Galloway, Sir James had been commissioned
to attempt the reduction of Douglasdale, and
the forests of Selkirk and Jedburgh. His
first aim was his own castle of Douglas, which
the enemy was especially careful to gan-ison on
account of the strength of its position, and
which on that account he was magnanimously
bent upon destroying, so that not onestoneshould
be left U])on another to shelter them. Having
approached it undiscovered and placed an am-
bush near to the gate, he sent fourteen of his
men, disguised as peasants, with their arms
concealed, and having sacks filled with grass
across their horses, who pa.ssed in sight of the
castle as if they were on their way to the fair
at Lanark. As the gamson was sorely pinched
from want of provisions, Sir John de Webeton,
their commander, no sooner espied this welcome
convoy than he sallied out with most of his
soldiers in pursuit, and was drawn by the
pretended rustics beyond the place where the
ambush was planted. Having thus made sure
of the enemy, they suddenly wheeled about,
threw off their disguises, and gave the signal
to their companions, who started from their
concealment, and the English, thus attacked in
front and rear, were cut down to a man. After
this, the survivore of the ganison caj)itu-
lated, and the castle was razed to the ground.
Among the spoil was found a box belonging to
Webeton in which was a letter fiom an English
lady, his mistress, engaging to marry him if he
could make good for a whole year this perilous
castle of Douglas against every ■ assailant. It
was one of those heroic freaks of chivalry so
often introduced to alleviate the dulness of
serious warfare, in which a knight would under-
take an exploit that was astounding from its
difficulty or extravagance, and peril both life

22i

" A knycht that then wcs in his [Brace's] rowt,
Worthi .inil wycllt, stalwart and stout.
Curtaiss. ami fa>T, and off Rud fame,
Schyr Alanc off Catkert by name.
Tauld me this taile, as I sail tell."

and reputation upon the issue. In this way
the unfortunate Webeton had undoubtedly
pledged himself, and might perhaps have made
his promise good had he been pitted against a
less daring and skilful enemy.

While Sir James Douglas was thus employed,
he hapjiened in the course of his forest adven-
tures to approach a house on the water of Lyne,
and as it was night he advanced with his wonted
caution to discover by what inmates it was
tenanted. "The devil" — such was the exclam-
ation that firet gi'eeted his ears; and as profane
swearing was in those days a privilege confined
to martialists, he concluded that soldiei-s must
be within, whom therefore it behoved him
to know whether as friends or enemies. He
soon found that they were no other than Alex-
ander Stewart of Bonkill, Thomas Randolph,
the nephew of Bruce, and Sir Adam Gordon,
men of the highest military renown, and also
his countrymen, but who had joined the side of
the English, and were now combined for the
enterprise of taking him or driving him out
of the forest. They were themselves captui'ed
after a short conflict, with the exception of
Gordon, and brought to the king. "Nephew,"
said Bi-uce to Randolph, "you have for some
time renounced your allegiance, but you must
now be reconciled to me." "You chastise me,"
replied Sir Thomas angrily, "when you better
deserve chastisement yourself; for since you
warred against England you should have justi-
fied your claims by fair fighting, instead of such
covert stratagems and cunning." "That fair
fighting," said Bruce calmly, "may be here-
after, and perad venture ere long; 'but since
you speak so rudelj', it is fit that your proud
words should be chastised, until you learn
what is right and yield to its authority."
Randolph was ordered to close confinement,
and there the lesson recommended to his atten-
tion was so carefully conned that he was soon
at liberty and in full concord with his royal
uncle. Stewart of Bonkill also foi-sook the
cause of England and joined that of tlie pa-
triots.

The promised time for open and aggressive
warfare had now arrived, and Brace resolved
to commence it with an attack ujion his in-
veterate enemy the Lord of Lorn. The moun-
tain chief was not slow to meet tlie invader,
and liaving placed 2000 men in a narrow defile
whicli onlj' one horseman could enter at a time,
he embarked on Loch Etive the rest of his forces
in a fleet of liglit lymphads, and hovered within
sight of the pass. It was a skilful arrangement
in mountainous warfare; for the pia.ss where
the land troops lay in ambuscade runs along
the bottom of Ben Cruachan, a high and nigged

226

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1307-1312.

mountain between Locb Awe and Loch Etive,
and consists of ground where the light-footed
natives could act with every advantage ; and
while Bruce was entangled in this difficult pass
the troops at sea could be speedily debarked to
take him in the rear. But Bruce appears to
have had secret intelligence of these arrange-
ments, and he had learned by fatal tri;il the
nature of this kind of warfare. While he
marched forward as if he intended to entei' the
pass and fall into the snare, he sent his light-
armed troops and archere under Sir James
Douglas to make a circuit, climb the mountain
behind the pass, and come down unexpectedly
upon the Highlanders in the rear while he was
occu]:iying their attention in front. This im-
portant movement Douglas executed with his
wonted skill and activity, and while the moun-
taiueei-s were occupied with the king, whose
soldiers were lightly armed for the occasion,
and who boldly met the enemy half-way. Sir
James and his party suddenly appeared, and,
after pouiing down a shower of arrows, ad-
vanced to close conflict. The men of Lorn,
thus unexpectedly taken in their own subtle
fashion, and assailed at once both in front and
rear, were broken, struck down, and scattered
with fearful slaughter, while the Lord of Lorn,
who saw from his galleys the havoc and dis-
comfiture of his clansmen, was unable to come
to their rescue. Bruce followed up this success
by wasting the district of Lorn and capturing
the strong castle of Dungtaffnage, which he
garrisoned to bridle the insurrections of the
natives.

As if these remarkable exertions of Bruce
had not of themselves been sufficient for the
recovery of Scotland, they were fully aided and
accelerated by the infatuation and the blunders
of Edward II. He was still so besotted by his
attachment to the infamous Gaveston as to be
averse to all military exertion ; while he dis-
gusted the warlike barons by the honours and
possessions which he stiU continued to heap
upon him. And the only instances in which he
occupied himself with Scottish affair-s served
merely to complicate his difficulties ; for in less
than a year he had appointed six guai-dians
successively to the charge of that distracted
kingdom. Thus the office soon became little
more than nominal, and each entrant, before he
could well examine his position or his duties,
was obliged to give place to a successor. Ed-
ward was moreover so unadvised as to set
William de Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews,
free, and permit him to return to Scotland.
This able and politic man, while war was at the
hottest, in which he could not personally take
a part, seemed to think himself justified in the

full use of the resources of ci-aft and cunning
since carnal weapons were denied him, and had
trimmed and shifted, promised aud recanted,
accoi'ding to the changes of the tide, but always
with a heart devoted to the interests of his
country. He had been a prisoner in England
since the defeat of the Scots in Methven, but
had easily succeeded iu duping the weak Ed-
ward, to whom he solemnly swore fidelity, and
engaged to publish in Scotland the papal ex-
communication that had been issued against
Bruce and his adherents. It is perhaps un-
necessary to add of such a man that he eluded
his engagements and pursued an opposite coui'se
as soon as he found himself within the shelter
of his see. At this time, also, it suited the
interests of the King of France to interpose in
behalf of Scotland, and he sent his envoy,
Oliver de Eoches, to negotiate with Bruce and
Lamberton about a truce between their country
and England. The French envoy, joined by
agents of the pope and the King of England,
met for this pui-pose in Scotland ; and the
result of theii- agreement with the Scottish
king was a truce which was to continue be-
tween the two countries until the ensuing feast
of All Saints.i Such a treaty, and so con-
ducted, was a significant recognition of Bruce's
royal authority on the part of those who still
accounted him an excommunicated man and a
traitor. Another incident equally indicative of
the leaning of France towards the cause of
Bruce occurred shortly afterwards. The Sieur
de Varennes, Philip's ambassador at the Eng-
lish court, sent a letter to Bnice openly ad-
di-essed to him merely as Earl of Carrick, while
secret missives accompanied it in which he was
recognized as King of Scots. These double-
dealing despatches, which were intercepted be-
fore they reached their destination, excited the
indignation of Edward, but he could do nothing
more than murmur his resentment.^ He even
commissioned the guardian for the time being
to jmrchase a trace from the Scots, if such a
mode of bargaining should be found necessary.^
A strange reverse and humiliation ! But all
this arose from his crazy partiality for Gaveston.
A warlike muster which would have brought
his bai'ons together would only have united
them against him, aud before the march for a
northern campaign had commenced they would
have demanded the favourite's head.

Gratifying although these gi-owing acknow-
ledgments of his sovereignty must have lieeu to
the heart of Bruce, another instance followed of
greatly higheraccount, as it showed that a similar

i Rymer's Fmdera. ^ Idem.

5 Ueuiiiigford, vnl. i. p. 246.

A.D. 1307-1312.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

227

recognition had now taken root in the affections
of his own divided subjects. On the 24th of Feb-
ruary, 1310, an assembly of the estates of Scot-
land was held at Dundee to designate by special
law the rightful holder of the royal authority.
Here it was solemnly determined and declared
that Robert, Lord of Annandale, the competitor,
ought by the laws and customs of Scotland in
former times to have been preferred in the com-
jjetition for the crown to Baliol — that they,
therefore, recognize Robert Bruce now reigning
as their just and lawful sovereign ; that they
engage to defend his right, and the liberties
and independence of Scotland, against all oppo-
nents of every rank, power, or dignity; and
that they declare all contraveners of the same
to be guilty of treason against the king, and to
be he'd as traitors against the nation.' At the
same time the representatives of the Scottish
church — the bishops, abbots, priors, and procu-
rators— issued a pastoral declaration to all the
faitliful of the land, announcing "That the
Scottish nation, seeing the kingdom betrayed
and enslaved, had assumed Robert Bruce for
their king, and that the clergy had wdlingly
done homage to him in that character.''^ Al-
thougli Lamberton as primate did not appeal-
in the front of this clerical movement, his secret
influence was undoubtedly its mainspring; and
while he still continued to keep well with the
Absalom of England, he may have thought that
he could thus more eflectually counteract the
designs of the royal epicure and his Ahitho-
pheLs.

The truce, which had been little respected on
either side, was abruptly and prematurely ter-
minated. Such could scarcely have been other-
wise as long as Scottish estates were held by
English proprietors, and Scottish castles gar-
risoned by English soldiers. On the resumption
of hostilities Bruce was so strong, that, instead
of resting on a defensive war, he was eager to
become the assailant, and had made prepara-
tions for besieging Perth, at that time the most
powerful town in Scotland, but which was held
by a strong English garrison under the com-
mand of Sir John Fitz-Marmaduke. Alarmed
at these demonstrations, Edwai'd resolved in
earnest upon a Scottish invasion, and sent out
his orders over England and Ireland for the
great crown vassals to assemble their retainers
for the purpose. But so low had his credit
fallen, that many of his principal nobles, al-
though they sent their military contingent^,
refused to give then- personal attendance. Still

' Instrument in the General Register Honse, Edinburgh,
quoted in Kerr's L\fc <4 Brua;, voL i. p. 370.
- Andereoo, IiuUp. Ay. No. 1.

the Earls of Gloucester and Warrenne, the Lords
Henry Percy and James CliflTord, and many
others of high rank and military reputation,
followed his banner, while the army in strength
and numbers seemed suflicient for the full re-
conquest of Scotland. Of this, indeed, Bruce
was so well aware that he resolved to let it roll
onward uncoufronted, and content himself with
hovering on its outskirts. Fortunately, also,
the wonted irresolution of the English king so
far prevailed, that although he persevered in
the invasion, it was too late to make it eff'ectual,
for it was not commenced till near the end of
September, when the approaching winter woulil
be certain to waste it with starvation, or drive
it back to England. The whole of his march
and the proceedings that accompanied were
characterized by the same irresolution and im-
becility. Instead of keeping coastward for his
fleet to co-operate, he drove right inland as if
with his eyes shut, and proceeded from Rox-
bui-gh to the Forest of Selkirk, from Selkirk to
Biggar, and from Biggar to Renfrew, without
finding an enemy to encounter, oreven much mis-
chief to accomplish. At length, on the failure of
forage and provisions, he commenced his retreat
by Linlithgow, and through the Lothians and
the eastern part of Lammermoor, until he ar-
rived at his starting-point at Berwick, which
he reached about the 10th of November, hav-
ing thus spent somewhat more than two months
in useless marching and countermarching. Dur-
ing this time Bnice had neither stood idle nor
aloof, but had kept up a continual war of skir-
mishes by which convoys were cut off, and pro-
visions intercepted, and in one of these he killed
300 English and Welsh. Vain of his expedi-
tion because his enemy had not met him in the
field, Edward wrote an account of it to the pope,
and boasted that he had made Bi-uce and his
traitorous accomplices fly to their earth-holes
like foxes. But for eight months he lingered
at Berwick within the security of its walls, not
daring to venture into England on account of
the unpopularity into which he had fallen. So
little, indeed, did his subjects sympathize with
him, that during the campaign many of them
had supplied the Scots with provisions, horses,
and arms. Anxious to cover the disgrace of his
useless inroad, or more probably to give his
favourite an o|)portunity of recommending him-
self by warlike achievements, he sent Gaveston
at the close of this year (1310) fi-om Berwick
into Scotland at the head of a strong detach-
ment. But Gaveston, although he penetrated
into the country as far as the Forth, which he
appears to have crossed, was as unsucce-ssful as
his master, having been unable to force the Scots
to an engagement.

228

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1307-1312.

After this unsatisfactory retreat of the Eng-
lish it was time for Bruce to make reprisals by
an invasion of England, to which his enlarged
resources could now atibrd the opportunity; and
he accordingly crossed the Solway, and for eight
days ravaged the districts of Gillsland and Tyne-
dale, from which his soldiers returned with
abundance of booty. If they exercised the law
of retaliation in this inroad to the full of its
requii-ements, nothing less at such a period and
under such circumstances could be expected;
for years they had been the helpless victims of
a cruel oppression, and the fii-st moment of de-
liverance had but now arrived. Fordun indeed
regards their doings as nothing worse than a
righteous retribution.^ Different, indeed, was
the view of Edward, who endeavoured to enlist
the church in his quari-el; and in writing to the
pope of the late invasion he was careful to de-
scribe the atrocities which the Scots had com-
mitted in a portion of the patrimony of St.
Peter. " Robert and his accomplices," he thus
complained, "having invaded our realm of
England, perpetrated the most horrible ravages,
depredations, burnings, and murders in the
border counties of our kingdom, but more espe-
cially in the bishopric of Durham ; not sparing
the innocent youth or the female sex, and pay-
ing no respect, alas ! even to the immunities of
ecclesiastical liberty." ^ Against such complaints
it was fortunate that Bruce had the Scottish
clergy on his side, and that they cared more for
their sovereign than for the pontiff. Leaving,
therefore, the pope and the King of England to
condole with each other, Bruce in September
repeated his invasion through Eedesdale and
Tynedale, in which also the bishopric of Dur-
ham, the see of the merciless Anthony Beck,
was not spared.

As the recovery of Perth was an important
object, Bruce, after his return from England,
resumed the siege, which he was now able to
do without fear of intexTuption. The town,
however, was so strong in towers and ramparts,
and so well garrisoned under William Olifant,
an anglicized Scot, that its capture promised to
be a work of difficulty, more especially as the
King of England had promised to relieve it.
Thus emboldened the garrison held out for six
weeks, and might have protracted the siege till
the aiTival of assistance, but for the prudence
and daring of the King of Scots. Having care-
fully surveyed the defences of the town, and
matured his plans, he pretended to raise the
siege, and marched to a considerable distance,
where he remained for eight days. He then
quickly and silently returned by night weO

■ Scotiehronicon, lib.

' Fad. Anr/l. iii. 283.

furnished with scaling ladders of due height;
at the head of his troops he entered the ditch
or moat that surrounded the wall, with a scaling
ladder on his shoulders, the water reaching to
his throat, and steadying his steps with his
spear, being the first person who crossed, and
the second who mounted the wall. Thus the
ditch was passed, and the ramparts were won
in dai-kness, and so fierce and unexpected was
the attack which followed, that the ganison
thi-ew down their arms and surrendered. An
incident of chivalrous and generous daring en-
livened the history of this important capture.
A knight of France who happened to be among
the captors had seen with surprise the devoted-
ness of Bruce in placing himself in the front of
danger to show the way to his followers; and
no longer able to contain himself, the gallant
stranger exclaimed, "Good heavens ! what shall
we say of our French lords that fare so luxmi-
ously, and will only eat, drink, and dance, when
such a worthy knight will throw himself into
such peril to win a wretched hamlet ?" He
immediately plunged into the water, crossed
the moat, and was one of the first who mounted
the wall. Only the Scots among the garrison
were put to the sword as traitors ; the English
soldiei-s were dismissed unharmed, and the for-
tifications of Perth were dismantled.

The infatuation of Edward still continued,
and during these hiunbling reverses he was more
anxious to retain the wretched Gaveston, whom
his nobility were bent to drive from the king-
dom, than to recover Scotland to his rule. Such
was mainly the history of England at this
period — and such the result of the conquests
of Edward I. ! All had degenerated into a
pitiful brawl between the besotted king and
his indignant barons, during which the nation
could only stand still and look on ; and all that
the son of the dreaded Edward Lougshanks
could at this time achieve against Scotland was
in the form of empty threats and menaces, or
equally empty negotiation. We therefore find
him at this time (1311-12) writing to the de-
spairing English castellans of the few strong-
holds that remained in Scotland untaken, ex-
horting them to hold out — writing to John of
Lorn exhorting him to try once more the for-
tune of his arms against the Bruce — and writing
to the pontiff beseeching him to direct his spiri-
tual artillery against the rebellious Scots, and
to hold in fast durance at Rome, Wishart, Bishop
of Glasgow, instead of allowing him to return
home, where he would be certain by his cunning
counsels to strengthen the insurgents. Edward
even descended to such humiliation as to nego-
tiate for a fresh truce ; but this the King of
Scots decidedly refused: he had tried hisstrength;

A.D. 1312-1314.] ROBERT BRUCE.

he was aware of his advantages ; aud now was
the time beyond all others to work for the de-
liverance of Scotland.

A thiid invasion of England was the result
of Bruce's decision. This he undertook at the
close of 1312, and his advance across the border
was in greater force than on the previous occa-
sions, and with still greater havoc. Having
burned the towns of Hexham and Corbridge,
he made a rapid march upon the rich town of
Durham, surprised it by a night attack, and
reduced a gi'eat part of the city to ashes, whUe
the people of the bishopric were so dismayed
that they ottered to purchase a truce at the price
of .£2(100. But humbling though the ott'er was,
they were not let otf so easily, for the Scots
stipulated that so often as they were pleased to
invade England, they should have a free passage
through the county of Durham. Even these
terms also appeared so desirable that the coun-
ties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and West-
moreland paid £2000 each for the privilege of
being included in the same treaty. Bruce hav-
ing established his headquarters within reach of
the town of Hartlepool, once a part of liis own
English property, resolved to indemnify himself
for the loss of fair, market, and harbour dues that
had now passed into other hands ; and for this
purpose Sir James Douglas was sent forward as
collector of the alienated revenues. This active
chief discharged his commission so ably, that he
sacked the town, aud returned with many of its
inhabitants prisoners. The return, however, of

229

this expedition to Scotland was not quite so
prosperous, aud the Scots appear to have pre-
sumed too much upon their own strength and
the dispirited plight of their enemies. Thus
Bruce attempted the strong city of Carlisle; but
in the assault his troops were beaten back, and
Sir James Douglas with several others wounded.
UndeteiTed by this failure Doughis also at-
tempted to siu'prise Benvick by a night attack;
but at the critical moment when liis soldiers
were mounting the walls the barking of a dog
alarmed the garrison, and the assailants were
beaten ofl'. Notwithstanding these partial re-
verses the invasion was a prosperous one, for
the Scots had not onl)' secured a rich booty, but
given fresh life to their cause, while the hearts
of their lately victorious enemies were propor-
tionally depressed and dispirited. During this
year also (1312) the castles of Bute, Dumfries,
Dalswintou, and several fortalices which the
English held in Scotland, surrendered to Bruce,
which he caused immediately to be razed to the
ground. In this way he wisely increased the
difficulty of a reconquest of Scotland by giving
no place of shelter to the invaders. It is pos-
sible, also, that warned from the example of
England during the reign of Stephen, he saw
what dangerous possessions these might prove
in the hands of the proud nobility of Scotland;
and how easily, under such protection, they
might establish themselves into petty tyrants
when the national enemy was suppressed and
the land delivered from their presence.

CHAPTER VII.

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE CONTINUED: BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN (1312-1314).

A war of sicpfes — Capture of Roxburgh Castle by Douglas — Of Edinburgh Castle by Randolph — Of Linlithgow
Castle by William Binning — Growing strength of Bruce's cause — He reduces the Isle of Man — Stirling
Castle ineffectually besieged by Edward Bruce — His rash .igreement for its surrender — A whole year's
muster of England and Scotland for a decisive conrtict — Their respective resources — Bruce's army — His
arrangements for battle — His encampment at Bannockburn — Advance of the English army — Skirmish
of Randolph with a body of English cavalry — Bruce's combat with De Boune — Bruce's address to his army
before the battle— Morning of battle— Preliminaries of the conflict— Battlk of Bannockburn— Total
tlofeat and dispersion of the English— Flight of Edward II. from the field — His narrow escape — Immense
spoil won liy the Scots — Generous conduct of Bruce after liis victory — Capture of Baston the poet —
His poetical ransom — Important consequences of the victory of Bannockburn — Death of John Baliol.

The tide of warfare having now turned in
favour of Scotland, the chief efforts of Bruce
and his com])atriots were directed to the ejec-
tion of the English by the capture of those
more im|)ortant castles in the kingdom which
they still continued to occupy. Of these the
castle of Roxburgh held a conspicuous place, as

it was one of the keys of the Scottish border,
and while the English h.id it in their keepujg
Scotland could always be invaded with advant-
age. It was, therefore, a tempting jirize between
the two contending nations, around which the
warfare was speedily collected ; and Douglas,
who according to his wont was lurking in the

280

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

forest of Jedburgh, resolved to signalize himself
by its capture. His plau was laid with that
sagacity which ensured such success to his many
romantic adventures both in siege and battle.
For escalade he employed a certain Simon of
the Lead-house, "a crafty man and a curious,"
to make him rope ladders of a peculiar construc-
tion, with iron steps and cranks ; and the time
he selected for the attempt upon the castle was
the night of Shrove Tuesday, wheu he knew
well that the garrison would be employed in
feasting and revelry as a prepai'ative for the
fasting and penance of Lent, which would com-
mence next day. With only sixty soldiers, whose
armour was covered with black frocks, and
sheltered by the darkness of midnight, the
hardy baud approached the castle undetected.
On arriving at the bank on which it is situated
they began to ascend cautiously on all-fours;
and while thus employed they could overhear a
conversation between two sentinels, by which
they knew that their motions had not been
wholly undiscovered. Naming a neighbouring
farmer whose cattle were used to graze ujion
the plain, the one sentry exclaimed, "Surely he
is making good cheer to-night when he thus
leaves his oxen shut out." " Yes," cried the
other, "of a surety he will make meny to-night
though the Douglas should drive them away."
Cheered by the discovery that they were mis-
taken for oxen, and passed over without fur-
ther notice, the assailants reached the walls,
fixed their ladders, and silently ascended. The
first who stepped on the wall was Simon of the
Lead-house; but the soldier on guard who was
stationed there, instead of raising the alai'm,
rushed forward to throw him headlong from
the ramparts, in which case he would have boine
down his companions who were following after.
But in this critical moment, when a single step
in advance of the Englishman would have de-
feated the whole enterprise, Simon met the
assailant, laid him dead with a stroke of his
dagger, and threw the body over the wall. Al-
most immediately after another Englishman ad-
vanced to the spot, but Simon quickly silenced
him and sent him after his companion. The
wall being thus won and no alarm sounded, the
Scots rushed forward to the keep, where all
was a mirthful revel of dancing aud singing,
and made their presence known by the terrible
war-cry, "A Douglas, a Douglas !" and a furious
unexpected onset. Little resistance followed;
the revellers were driven across the hall, and
all could have been easily struck down but that
Douglas gave them quarter. In the meantime
the commander of the garrison. Sir Gillencin de
Fiennes, a knight of Burgundy, made good his
retreat with a few followers to a tower which

[a.d. 1312-1314.

he endeavoured to defend, but he was mortally
wounded aud compelled to surrender. The gal-
lant Simon of the Lead-house, who had so greatly
contributed to the success of the enterprise, was
commissioned to cai'ry the tidings to Bruce, by
whom he was royally rewarded. Roxburgh
Castle, by the Scottish king's orders, was forth-
with demolished by his brother Edward, who
also reduced the rest of Teviotdale, except Jed-
burgh, which was garrisoned by the English, to
full submission.^

It was now that Thomas Randolph of Strath-
don, the pardoned nephew of Bruce, by whom
he had been raised to the earldom of Moray,
was ready to show the reality of his repentance
as well as the sincerity of his devotedness to
the cause of national liberty. At this time also
that noble rivalry seems to have commenced
between him aud his captor, Sir James Douglas,
which had for its great object the complete
liberation of their country. He therefore re-
solved to distinguish himself by the capture of
the castle of Edinburgh, which the English had
held for twenty yeais, and which, from its com-
manding site and the imperfect resources of the
military science of the period, could only be
reduced by famine or taken by a sudden aud
desperate onset. Randolph commenced the siege
in form, which threatened to be tedious if not
abortive, for the garrison were not only numei'-
ous but abundantly supplied with provisions.
Suspecting also the fidelity of their commander,
Sir Piers de Luband, a knight of Gascony and
a relation of Gaveston, they deposed him from
office and placed one of their own number in
his room. These precautions and their obstinate
resistance had protracted the siege for six weeks,
during which the Scots made no progi-ess ; and
Randolph saw that his only chance of success
lay in winning the castle by surprise. His in-
quiries as to whether there was no private ac-
cess to the walls more easy than the others were
answered by William Frank, an English soldier
now in his service. When a young man he
had been a soldier in the castle, from which,
having a love intrigue with a woman dwell-
ing in the town, he was wont to descend at
night by a ladder of ropes and return befoi'e
his absence could be detected. He still re-
membered distinctly the winding track among
the precipices along which he had descended
and returned in safety, and he ofl'ered to con-
duct a party by the same way and be foremost
in the adventure. Randolph, having weighed
his statement, resolved to make the attempt.
He selected thirty bold and agile men for the
pm-pose, whom he accompanied in pei-son; under

1 Fordon, lib. xii. c. 19 ; Barbour, lib. m

A.D. 1312-1314.] EOBEET BRUCE.

the cover of a dark night they glided to the
foot of the rock, and, preceded by Frank, their
guide, they began to ascend the slippery per-
pendicular steep, availing themselves of every
cleft and projection, and aware that a single
false step might precipitate the whole party to
the bottom. Midway up the rock was a narrow
ledge or shelf where they halted to rest them-
selves, and there they could hear the officers
going their round upon the walls to ascertain
that the sentinels were at their posts. At this
moment, also, a still more startling incident
alarmed them ; one of the watchmen on the
ramparts directly above their heads, either see-
ing something move or in mere thoughtless
play, threw a stone down the rock and ex-
claimed, "Away! I see you well !" They heard
the words and the missile that whizzed over their
lieads; but hoping, from the silence which fol-
lowed, that they had been unnoticed, they re-
sumed theii- perilous ascent and reached at last
the bottom of the wall, where it was only twelve
feet high. Here they fixed their rope-ladder by
its iron hook to the top of the wall and mounted
in breathless silence, William Frank being the
first, Sir Andrew Gray the second, and Ran-
dolph himself the thu-d who ascended. When
only a few had reached the parapet they
heard a whispering and a movement of wea-
pons among the guards ; it was followed by
a rush of armed men upon them, and the
alarm-cry of "Treason ! treason !" but the Scots
tiuickly cleared the walls of theii' defenders and
made onward for the keep, where the whole
garrison had rallied. The darkness of the night,
the strange and sudden onset, and their igno-
rance of the force of their assailants, queUed
the wonted valour of the English, while the
Scots rushed on with those advantages on their
side which, in such a night surprise, can make
a small band equal to a whole legion. The con-
fused resistance of the panic-struck ganison
was soon over; the governor, who made a despe-
rate rally, was slain ; some leaped over the Widls
and were dashed to pieces; but the rest, still
greatly more numerous than their assailants,
threw down their arms and received quarter.
" Never in any land," e.xclaims Barbour, " have
I heard of a c.istle which was taken so hardily!"
Taking into account the difficulties of the feat
and the admirable skill and daring with which
they were surmounted, it forms, indeed, an epi-
sode in this war of gallant and romantic incidents
that can scarcely be paralleled, and in no case sur-
l)assed. After the surrender Sir Piei-s Luband,
the deposed governor, w;is rele.osed from the
prison to which the ganison had committed him,
and easily ])ei-suaded to become a liegeman of
the King of Scotland ; wliile the castle itself, in

231

conformity with Brace's wise policy, was razed
to the ground.^

These splendid feats of heroic daring and
devotedness were no longer confined to knights
and high-born nobles, for the spirit of the laud
was now fully awake, and even the peasantry
were producing brave champions and skilful
leaders. This was especially manifested in the
capture of the castle of Linlithgow, a feat which
was achieved by a common hind. This castle,
which is described by Barbour as being large
and strong, and "well stuffed with Englishmen,"
was also formidable as a rallying point to the
enemy and a place of communication between
the garrisons of Stii'ling and Ediubui'gh. Aware
of its great importance to the JSnglish, as well
as annoyed by the oppressions of its garrison,
William Binning, "a stout carle and a stoure,"
who was in the practice of supjjlying hay to the
fort, and who well knew its ilefences, resolved
to attempt its surprisal. He commuuiaited this
purpose to his companions and found them
hearty to second him. He placed a party of
them in ambush near to the gate, concealed
eight of them well armed within his wagon,
covering them with hay, and accompanied by
a servant ostensibly to drive the oxen, Bin-
ning walked with his wonted air of carelessness
at the side of his wain. The portcullis was
raised, the vehicle entered ; but, instead of pass-
ing through the gateway, the driver, by cutting
the harness of the oxen, left it staniiiug and
thus prevented the portcullis from descending,
while Binning raised his concerted warning of
"Call all! call all!" At that signal the eight
men leaped from the wagon and secured the gate ;
the ambush rushed from their conce.'dment, and
entered the castle ; and the astounded ganison
made but a short resistance, and were glad to
escape to Edinburgh and Stilling. The king
worthily rewarded the gallant peasant, and
ordered the castle to be demolished.

These substantial successes, by which the
English hold upon Scotland was so greatly en-
feebled, began to manifest their effects in win-
ning fresh adherents to the cause of Bruce. He
was now a king in reality as well as in title and
pretension, and several who had hitherto held
aloof from him, or joined his enemies, began to
suspect that his was the winning side. Of tliose
new convertites to his cause was David, Eail of
Athole, who had long been of the party of Eng-
land, and had lately been rewarded by King
Edward with a grant of English lands, but who
now subscribed to their forfeiture by acknow-
ledging Bruce iis his sovereign. Al;u-meil at the
capture of the castles of Edinburgh and Kox-

I Barbour, lib. vU.

232

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1312-1314.

burgh, Edward was apprehensive that Berwick
might share the same fate, and he therefore
caused the Countess of Buchau, who had been
there ignominiously imprisoned during seven
long years, to be transferred from her cage to
a more inland place of duresse. About the same
time also (a.d. 1313), and while negotiations
were going on for a truce between England and
Scotland through the mediation of the King of
France, Bruce invaded Cumberland, where he
inflicted considerable damage. A more im-
portant enterprise, however, to which this in-
vasion was but a prelude, was an expedition for
the recovery of the Isle of Man to the Scottish
crown, which Bruce conducted in person. In
this he was successful, for lie overthrew the
governor, and reduced the whole island to sub-
jection. This governor, who in the Manx Chro-
nicle is called Dingaway Dowill, was probably
that same Duncan Macdowall, formerly a lord
of Galloway, who had surprised Thomas and
Alexander Bruce at Loch Eyan, and delivered
them bound and bleeding into the hands of
their remorseless enemies. If such was the case,
the defeat of Macdowall in the island to which
he had fled as a place of shelter, after his expul-
sion from GaUoway, was but a righteous retri-
bution.

During this period of successful sieges Edward
Bruce had been pursuing an adventui-ous cai'eer
which wa-s to lead to a most important termina-
tion. He had reduced the whole of Galloway
and Nithsdale, expelling the English and razing
their strongholds according to his brother's
ordere ; he had also destroyed the castle of
Eutherglen, near Glasgow, and captured that
of Dundee. Continuing his course of success he
next laid siege to the castle of Stirling, now the
only fortress of consequence which the English
possessed in Scotland ; and as the military hon-
our of each nation was at issue in tliis last relic
of the camijaigns of Edward I., the attack and
defence were maintained with equal pertinacity.
But Edward Bruce, althougli as daring a knight
in the open field as ever couched a lance, was
no tactician in sieges; and the height of the
■walls, as well as the bravery of the garrison,
checked his impetuous career, and obliged him
to exchange his favourite plan of straightforward
attack into a dull tedious blockade. Weary of
this process, wliich had lasted from spring till
midsummer, he at length entered into an agree-
ment with Sir Philip Mowbray, the governor,
tliat the operations of siege or blockade should
be suspended for a year, and that by the ensuing
midsummer the castle should be surrendered, if
not previously relieved by the English.

Nothing could be more perilous to the cause
of the Scottish king than this rash compact of

his brother. It compelled him to abandon that
desultory warfare for which Scotland was so
admirably fitted, and in which he had hitherto
been so successful, and to risk all in a battle in
the open field, where every chance would be
against him. The utmost of England was thus
challenged and defied to raise the siege, and its
whole might would be collected for the efibrt.
A whole year was allowed for the attempt, and
dui'ing the interval England had full time to
collect her immense resources not only at home,
but from the Continent. Hitherto, also, the ill-
feeling between the English nobles and their
king had proved one of the best sources of
Bruce's growing strength and ascendency ; but
such a national cause, iu which the chivalrous
honour of both parties was at stake, would be
certain to compose their dissensions and unite
them into one great resistless army for the in-
vasion and final overthrow of Scotland. And to
meet all this Bruce had as yet but a divided
nobility and the half of a kingdom, for a strife
in which the whole might prove too little.
These obvious circumstances he stated to his
brother Edward, and added thoughtfully, "God
may dispose the issue to our advantage, but the
peril to win or lose all at once is fearful." "Let
the King of England come and all his follow-
ing," cried Edward boldly; "we shall fight them
all were they still more numerous." At these
words, so full of that daring courage which
formed so great an element of Robert Bruce's
character, " he prized his brother greatly in his
heart," and gave full consent to the arrange-
ment.

The twelve months that followed were of too
important a character to be wasted in skirmishes
and deeds of knightly prowess ; the two nations
were " hushed in grim repose " that looked like
peace, but which was more terrible than a u.sual
course of war, beciiuse it was the gathering of
the storm ; the long breathing for the death-
struggle by which the contast should be ended.
The preparations made by England were worthy
of her national spirit, independently of the feeble
character of her king. The great lords and
barons who were holders of the crown to the
number of ninety-three mustered their military
retainers ; and while nearly the whole repaired
in person to the place of meeting, the few who
still preferred their resentment against their
king to their hatred of Scotland or the welfare
of their own country, were careful to send their
vassals. From the English Pale in Ireland came
the retainers of the crown of England under the
Earl of Ulster, and with them were joined
twenty-six Irish chiefs and their foUowei'S who
owed allegiance to the conquerors. The counties
of Wales also sent their numerous and hardy

THE CAPTURE OF LINLITHGOW CASTLE WHILE IT WAS
HELD BY AN ENGLISH GARRISON.

In the struggle for Scottish independence, just before the Battle of
Bannockburn, many splendid deeds of heroic daring were performed. One
of the most notable was the capture of Linlithgow Castle by William Binning,
wlio is described in the chronicle as " a stout carle and a stoure." It was
his custom to supply the garrison with hay, and one day he arrived at the
gate with a wagon-load drawn by oxen. When the vehicle entered Binning
cut the harness, and brought the wagon to a stand-still, thus preventing the
portcullis from falling. He then raised the cry of "Call all! Call all!"
At this signal eight men leaped from the wagon where they had been concealed
under the hay, while another party rushed out of ambush near the gate. The
surprise was complete; the astounded garrison made only a brief resistance,
and then fled, leaving the Castle in the hands of these daring Scottish
peasants.

LINLITHGOW CASTLE CAPTURED FROM THE ENGLISH.
Binning blocks the portcullis and takes the gate. (a.d. 1313.)

Vol. i. p. 331.

\.D. 1312-1314.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

233

contingents, which, with those of the free coun-
ties of England alone, composed an army of
27,000. Scottish aid also was. not neglected
against Scotland, and while those northern
chiefs who held grants of land from the Eng-
lish king were ordered to repair to the banner
of the Earl of Pembroke, their governor, John
of Argyle, the old antagonist of Bruce, w;is
appointed to co-operate with the invading army
liy sea, with the title of high-admiral of the
western fleet of England. And besides these,
the mercenary soldiei-s of the Continent who
owed allegiance as yet to England, or whose
trade was war, were not omitted ; and accord-
ingly we are told that reinforcements were
drawn to England from Haiuault, Gascony, and
Aquitaiue ; from Poictou, Provence, and Brit-
tany ; from Holland, Germany, and Bohemia.
•Such was the mustering for an aimy the num-
bers of which have often been a subject of con-
truvei-sy, for while some have extravagantly
magnified them into more than 200,000 soldiei'S,
others have sought to reduce them to less than
half the amount. It is evident, however, from
the gi'eat resources of England, from the length
of time spent in collecting them, and from the
writs and ordere issued on the occasion, that
they exceeded rather than fell short of 100,000
soldiers, independeutlj' of an immense array of
servants, artisans, sutlere, and camp followei-s,
who swelled the bulk and formidable appear-
ance, while they encumbered the operations of
the army. Every nerve had been tasked for the
occasion, so that not oidy all the clergy as well
as the nobles, but all the widows and other
women who in any way held of the crown,
were summoned to furnish their allotment of
men, hoi-ses, and aims. Something more was to
be effected than the relief of the ciistle of Stir-
Hug; this was to be but a prelude to the con-
quest of the whole Scottish kingdom. In de-
scending to the details of this immense host, and
the portions into which it was divided, Barbour
is as reasonable as when he estimates its num-
bers at "100,000 men and more."' He tells
us that there were 40,000 cavalry well ai-med ;
and uf these 3000 were completely armed both
man and horee in plate and mail, who composed
the front rank. The archera were 50,000. The
whole Jirmy, he also tells us, w;is arrayed in ten
divisions, each comprising at least 10,000 men.
As to march such a numerous army into Scot-
land, witiiout providing for its sustenance in-
de])endently of the country, would have been to
march it into the jaws of famine and starvation,
not only an ample land commissariat was at-
tached to it, but a numerous fleet was provided.

< The Bruce, lib. viii. 1. 105.

both for the purpose of invading Scotland by
sea and supplying the troops with provisions.

While such were the v;ist preparations of
England during a year of peaceful interval, those
of Bruce were coiTespondent to his high char-
acter both for valour and wisdom. His orders
to ana and muster in the Tor wood, near Stir-
ling, went forth in every direction; but it was
evident fi-om the small numbei-s that had
hitherto followed his banner, and the scanty
resources with which he had been obliged to con-
duct his militai-y operations, that these orders
would be but partially obeyed. Many could dis-
obey them with impunity; not a few must have
been daunted by the formidable power of the
enemy ; and the chief of the nobility still kept
aloof from his cause, or were ready to act against
him. No force, therefore, so far as concerned
mere numbers, could be expected to meet that
would bear a comparison with the English host.
Accordingly scarcely more than 30,000 men were
finally assembled at the place of rendezvous, with
about 20,000 undisciplined and unarmed camp
foUowere, who could take no part in the engage-
ment. This array was brought together from
vai-ious quartei-s chiefly by the exertions of
Edward Bruce, Sir James Douglas, Randolph
Earl of Moray, and Walter the Steward of
Scotland. Beyond this meagi'e list we look in
vain for the names of the highest of the Scottish
nobles. But the gallant soldiera whom they
brought were men who had set their lives upon
a cast which they were ready to throw without
wincing, and most of them had been trained to
every emergency' of unequal conflict in the wai-s
of Bruce and Wallace. The good king Robert
received them graciously, and his courteous lan-
guage and kind demeanour- made them doubly
ready to die for such a sovereign. With so
great a disparity of numbei-s he resolved to
abide the encounter, after availing himself of
every resource which the nature of the ground
and the character of his troops could aftbrd him.

On the assembling of this army Bruce held a
council of war and explained to his chief oflicei-s
his jalan of operation. From the condition of
theii- array they must fight the battle lightly
armed and on foot, instead of trusting to their
cavali-y, which was so inferior to that of Eng-
land. Such a mode of warfare might appear
utterly hopeless, en^nroned and borne down as
they could be by the mail-clad and mounted
squadrons of the English, by which alone their
whole force was outnumbered ; but the wars of
Wallace and his own victory at Loudon Hill, ^»' "^'* /«
as well as the example of the Flemish burghers -j : «, .,'
at Courti-ay, who on foot had met and routed)* ' ^ (
the best chivalry of France, had demonstrated' ^ , ffl/j

the eflicacy of a compact body of infantry

We"

234

HISTORY OF SCOTLAJSTD.

[a.d. 1312-1314.

in resisting the charges of cavalry. In this
waj', therefore, his troops must abide the en-
counter and do their- utmost to win the victory.
For such a kind of resistance, as well as for
closing up every passage by which relief could
be sent to the castle, the New Park, near Stii--
ling, was the fittest place. There, he showed
them, they would have every advantage, be-
cause on such a ground the enemy's cavaby,
from the trees and morasses by which the pai'k
was skirted, would be deprived of their chief
power of action. His representations were cor-
dially received by men so well fitted to estimate
them, and to the New Park accordingly the
whole ai'my was moved, where every ti'oop was
arranged according to his ordei-s and under his
own experienced eye.

These arrangements were worthy of the gi-eat
issue and formed a masterpiece of strategetic
wisdom. The ground thus chosen was on the
declivity along the east side of the marshes of
Halbert and Milton. The right of his army
was protected by a marshy ground intereected
by numerous .sykes; the left by the rivulet of
Bannock and the deep ravine through which it
flows. In this way his wings were sheltered
from those terrible attacks of cavalry wliich were
chiefly' to be dreaded in the coming fight. But
stLU fiirther to increase the difficulties of the
ground, Brace caused pits to be dug on the
level gi-ound between his right wing and the
morass, three feet in depth, over which the turf
was replaced and covered with brushwood, so
that they were concealed fiom the eye and
might serve as traps for the horsemen. These
" pots," as Barbour calls them, were so numer-
ous " that they might be likened to a wax comb
that bees make." It has been added that at the
bottom of these pits sharp pointed stakes were
placed upright to transfix all who fell into
them, and that iron caltrops or crows'-feet were
planted in the intervals to lame those who had
escaped the pits. By these precautions the Scots
could only be assaUed in front and by equal
numbei-s, while the rest of the English army
were more likely to prove an encumbrance
than a help to those who were engaged in com-
bat. Having thus got a fair field for action
where every bi-ave soldier could bring his efforts
into full play, Bruce resolved that even the
refuse of his army — the stragglere and foUowere
of the camp — should be turned to good account.
These, which numbered nearly 20,000, along
with cei-tain bodies of undisciplined Higlilanders
who had joined his ranks, were sent with the
baggage to a valley in the neighbourhood by
which the Gillies' Hill is divided ; and from
this concealment they could sally out and join
the chase if the day went in favour of Scot-

land, or be a covering party if the army was
compelled to retreat. His whole front aiTay
was divided into three battles or battalions, of
which the command of the right was given
to Edward Bruce, of the left to Sir James
Douglas and Walter the Steward of Scotland,
and of the centi-e to Randolph, Eail of Moray.
Behind these was the reserve, commanded by
Bruce in pei-son, consisting of his own military
vassals of Carrick, the men of Argyle, Cantu-e,
and the Isles, and Lord Angus of Islay, with his
followers of Islay and Bute. Immediately be-
hind the van, commanded by Eandolph, Bruce
himself took liis station, where he could oversee
all that passed and give aid where it was most
required.

Tliis movement of the Scottish army from
the Torwood to the field of Bannockburn and
these skilful preparations were not made until
Saturday, the 22d of June, when the English
had reached Edinbm'gh. By thus delaying the
execution of his carefully-conceived plan, Bruce
etFectually prevented the enemy fi-om devising
means to coimteract it, and led them on in their
bUnd confidence until it was too late to pause.
On that day the place of every troop was
assigned as it anived, and at night, when all
was dai'k and silent, the pits were dug and the
stakes planted. On the following morning mass
was performed throughout the army, and many
of the soldiers made their shrift, as men ready
to conquer or destined to die, and anxious to be
prepared for either. As it was also the vigil
of St. John, they devoutly obeyed its stern
requu-ement by eating no dinner and fasting
on bread and water. After mass and confession
Bruce went to examine the pits and satisfy
himself that his directions had been rightly
fulfilled. He then caused proclamation to be
made through the army that all who were not
ready to win bi-avely or die with honour had
still permission to depart, as he wished to keep
none with him except those who would stand
by him to the last and take whatever God
would send them. But a loud thunder-peal of
30,000 voices assured him that none would
flinch — that all would strive and endure to
the last.

The English army was as great a contrast to
the Scotch in its prudence and precaution as in its
numbei-s and its military equipments. DiWded
into ten battalions, each of which consisted of
about 10,000 men, they overspread the land as
they entered ; while the carriages which accom-
panied their march were so numerous that, had
they been extended in a single line, we ai-e told,
they would have been sixty miles in length.
Never had so large an army marched from Eng-
land ; and, confident in theii- strength, theii- Ian-

A.D. 1312-1314.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

235

guage had been, " I will pursue, I will overtake, I
will divide the spoil ;" for not only the conquest of
the land but the partitioning of its estates, and
the share that was to fall to each, had been settled
long before their enemies were in sight. In this
spirit they had advanced to Edinburgh in such
haste that both horses and men were wearied
and half-famished. On their approach towards
Stirling Bruce sent Sir James Douglas and Sir
Robert Keith, hereditary marshal of Scotland,
to reconnoitre ; and they returned with iutelli-
geuce of the vast numbers of the invadere, the
blaze of their burnished armour that lighted up
the whole line of march, and the steadiness and
rapidity of their approach ; but as this report
was calculated to daunt his soldiers, he advised
them to give out that the enemy, though numer-
ous, were without order and discipline.

When the English had advanced within two
miles of the Scottish army they detached a
party for the relief of the castle. These con-
sisted of 800 gallant and completely armed
horsemen, the choice of their cavalry, under the
command of four lords, the chief of whom was
Sir Robert Clifford. Avoiding the New Park,
and making a circuit l)y the low grounds to the
east and north of the church of St. Niuians,
they thus eluded the observation of the Earl
of Moray, who had received a special charge to
watch the approaches to the castle and prevent
the English from reinforcing it. But the quick
military eye of Bruce detected the movement,
and hastening to his nephew he cried sharply,
"The enemy has passed your gxiard; heedless
man! a rose has dropped from your chaplet!"
Stung by this rebuke and aware of the magni-
tude of his error, Randolph liurried off with 500
spearmen to throw himself between the English
and the castle. The enemy, thus finding an
obstacle in their way, and scorning it as only
composed of infantry, advanced upon the Scots
in full career, expecting to ride them down in an
instant ; but throwing themselves into a square
according to the ordei-s of Randoljih, and pre-
senting a fi'ont on all sides with their sjieare
rising tier above tier, the Scots awaited the
onset. The shock was terrible; but the little
jihalanx remained unbroken while many of the
Knglish were thrown to the ground, and one of
their bravest knights. Sir Wilham Daynecourt,
who was foremost in the charge, was slain.
Enraged at being thus foiled, the English close<l
round the ring of spearmen and followed with
charge upon charge like the waves of a tempest ;
but, in spite of their panoply, tlieir mighty war-
horses, and their numbers, the little forest of
spears was unbroken, while the Scots, who were
unencumbered with difensive armour, made
wild work upon the unwieldy dismounted cava-

liers with their short knives, daggers, and battle-
axes. But still to the Scottish army that looked
on in the distance the fate of their companions
appeared imminent, suiTounded by such over-
whelming ma-sses of cavalry and almost hid by
the dust of conflict ; and Sir James Douglas, no
longer able to endure the sight of his rival's
danger, hurried to the king exclaiming, "Ah,
sir ! the Earl of Moray is in j^eril, aud if not
aided will be slain ; with your leave I will
hasten to his rescue, for he has gi-eat need."
" You shall not go a step," replied Bruce; " if
he wins let him take the benefit, but whether
he wins or loses I may not break my arrange-
ments on his account." But Douglas was not to
be thus lepeUed ; " Certes ! I cannot endure,"
he .said, " to see him overborne by his enemies
when I can bring him help; and therefore, with
your leave, will aid him or die with him."
" Then, go," replied the king reluctantly, " but
let your return be speedy." The words were
scai-cely uttered when Douglas h.ad hurried off
to the rescue; "and I trow," exclaims Barbour,
" that he shall help him so well that all his
enemies shall feel it !" But on approaching the
place of conflict he saw that the English ranks
wavered, reeled, and woidd speedily be put
to flight. He instantly ordered his band to
halt, and said, "Our friends j-ouder fight so
bravely that they will soon be victorious; let
us not, then, lessen their gloiy by taking a
share of the encounter." The event was as he
had foreseen ; the English were charged by
Raudolijh in turn aud driven back in confusion
to their own armj', while in this desperate strug-
gle, in which they inflicted a heavy loss upon
theii' assailants, the victoi^ lost only one man.
This was not the only deed of chivalrous
emprise by which the great national fight of
Bannockburn was prefaced. While the English
army continued to advance towards the Scots
King Edward suddenly called a halt that he
might consult with his officers upon the expedi-
ency of commencing battle immediately, or defer-
ring it till the following day. But so unwieldy a
mass, when once put in motion, could not be so
easily arrested, and the fi-ont rank, consisting
of cavalry armed from head to foot, that had
not heard the king's order, continued to advance
until they came near the Scottish vanguaixl,
while its commander, Randolph, was absent.
Bruce was riding in front of it, aimed at all
points, with a battle-axe in his hand, marshal-
ling the ranks for the expected conflict, when
Sir Henry Bohun or De Boune, an English
knight of the opposite array, hoped to end the
conflict at once by the death of the Scottish
king, wliom he recognized by the golden coronet
which he wore upon his lielmet. He accord-

236

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1312-1314.

ingly laid his Lance in the rest, spuiTed hLs
strong war-steed, and came onward in sudden
and full career. Bruce, who had no offensive
weapon but his short axe, which served as a
truncheon, and who was mounted only on a
light palfrey, might have shunned the unequid
encounter -w-ithout disgrace ; but, awai-e of the
discouraging effects of such a retreat, and confi-
dent in his strength and skill in combat, in
which no knight of England or Scotland was
his equal, he turned and rode forward to meet
his antagonist. At the moment when the shock
would have roUed himself and palfrey in the
dust he dexterously avoided the collision ; and,
rising in his stirrups at the same instant, he
dealt such a blow upon the head of De Boune
with the full swing of his battle-axe that head
and helmet were shattered with the stroke, and
the handle of the axe itself split in two. The
English front recoiled at the spectacle and
fell back in confusion, while Bruce's friends
gathered lound him and affectionately blamed
him for meeting at such disadvantage a knight
so weU armed and horsed as his opponent. The
king felt the justice of their remonstrance ; and
to turn it aside he held up his weapon and said
with a look of comic regret, " I have broken my
good battle-axe !"

Nothing could be better calculated to encour-
age the Scots than the skirmish and the combat:
they were omens of success which even scepti-
cism would scarcely reject; and while the soldiers
were proud of the matchless prowess of theii-
king, they saw that his skilful plan of warfare
could countervail their scanty equipments as
well as inferior numbere, and lead them to vic-
tory and triumph. Bruce availed himself of the
opportunity to animate their spirit and confirm
theii- hopes, and his speech to the ai-my on the
occasion, recorded at full by Barbour, who must
have received it from those who listened to it
and treasured it in theii- hearts, is a masterpiece
of military and patriotic eloquence. "We ought,"
he thus began, "to love and extol Almighty
God who sends us so fair a beginning. It is a
gi'eat discomforting to our foes, that in this wise,
and so quickly, they have been twice signally
checked." The discomfiture of their choicest
soldiers, he added, and tlie h:isty retreat of their
van, would so dismay their hearts and quell their
courage, that their bodies and personal strength
would be of little worth. A good ending would
assuredly follow from such a beginning. Were
they then still ready for the fight ? The choice
should be theirs, not his ; he would fight or ab-
stain according to their pleasure; let them then
express freely their will. Here he was inter-
rupted by tlieir loud cheerful voices: "Good
king, give battle as soon as you may, and think

not that we shall faU you ; for neither danger
nor death will we shun tiU we have made our
country fi-ee !" "Since you will have it so," he
joj-fuUy answered, "let every man be in his
place, and all in readiness to-morrow mornifig
at sunrise, as soon as mass has been performed."
He besought them in nowise to break their
ai-ray; to st;ind as one man; to receive the enemy
on their speai-s, and set heart and wiU and
strength to the struggle. He reminded them
that they had three advantages on then- side.
They had the right, and the right was the cause
of God. The enemy in their overweening con-
fidence to possess the laud had brought with
them their wealth ; " and this," he said, " they
have brought to our hand, and in such abun-
dance that the poorest of you shall be both rich
and powerful." And finally he reminded his
soldiers that they were fighting for their own
lives and those of their wives and children, and
for their freedom, and for their country, while
their enemies were aiTayed only in the cause of
injustice, cruelty, and oppression, and if suc-
cessf id, would have no mercy. Let them then
meet the onset so stoutly that the hindmost
ranks of the English shall tremble at the shock.
If they conquered, as he was assured that they
should, he besought them to waste no time upon
the spoO, or in taking prisoners, imtil the field
was wholly their own. With regard to those
who should fall in battle, he pledged his royal
promise, that their heii-s, however young, should
immediately inherit their lands free from ward-
ship, relief, or the customary feudal exactions.
Having deUvered this address to the army at
large through their officera he dismissed them
with the admonition to rest for the night under
arms, that they might be in fuU readiness for
fight on the ensuing morning.

The English, although they had advanced so
rapidly, showed none of their wonted eagerness
for the fight: they were weary with theu' march,
and dispirited by the events of the day, which
had convinced them that their victory would
neither be so easy nor so certain as they had
expected. In more than five hundred places over
the field they gathered in groups to discuss and
blame the pi-oceedings of their leadere, and to
prove that matters which at present were evil
enough would soon be greatly worse. To silence
this " routing," as Barbour terms it, heralds
were sent by the English lords through the
host to assure them their discomforts would be
.speedily amended, and exhorting them to fight
bravely on the following day. King Edwai-d,
after having deliberated with his council and
concluded to defer the battle, drew off his troops
to the right and rear of the position they origi-
nally occupied, and encamped them in the Carse,

..D. 1312-1314.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

237

b

where the ground was low and abounding in
pools of water ; but these, the English bridged
over by demolishing houses and using the mate-
rials for the purpose. They then addressed
themselves to supper; and the festive cries
that were soon he;u-d far and wide, showed
how they were indemnifying themselves for
past toils and preparing for future exertions.
While they were thus revelling to the full one
Alexander Setou, a Scot in the service of Eng-
land, stole away from their encampment, and
showed to Bruce how easily he might defeat the
English if he became the assailant, and gave
battle on the morning at an earlier hour. But
Bruce had chosen his position too carefully, and
had too much at stake, to alter his arrange-
ments.'

At an early hour of the morning of Monday
the y4th of June the Scots rose fully equipped
for Ijattle, and all took their places at once, and
without confusion owing to the skilful precau-
tions of their king. Their comparatively small
numbei-s, their being on foot, even the comjiact-
ness of their array showed most unfavourably,
as conti'asted with the wide-spread and almost
countless enemy; while their half-naked bodies,
only defended by helm and target, bore but a
])oor comparison with the myriads of mail-clad
men and barbed horses of England, and gave
little promise of security against the deadly
showers of airows that would soon fall as thick
as a hailstorm. But it was in their offensive
weapons that they were to put their trust — the
long Scottish spear that could hold the iron-clad
rider at bay, the axe that could hew his armour
asunder in close fight, and the short knife that
could despatch him when he was dismounted
and thiown to the eai-th. As soon as they were
astir, and before they advanced to their allotted
places, the soldiers breakfjisted, and afterwards
had mass performed by Maurice, the Abbot of
Inchaffr.ay, who stood on an eminence in front
of the line that he might be visible to the whole
host. As soon as the army was an-ayed Bruce,
who was observant of every point of chivalry,
proceeded to invest the most deserving with the
honour of kniglithood ; and accordingly, with
displayed banners and ]iroclamation of heralds
and trumpets, he conferred that distinction on
Sir James Dougla.s, Walter the young Steward
of Scotland, and several other noble as|)irauts.

The English army was now in motion, and
its front had advanced within a bowshot of the
Scots. Owing to the narrowness of tlie ground
which the foreciust of Bruce had selected, the
otlier nine divisions, instead of arranging them-
selves to support the van, were obliged to fol-

> LelBiid, CMee. U. p. M7.

low at some distance, and with small intervals
between each. The King of England, who in
person acted as general of this cooped-np and
unwieldy mass, was attended by 500 chosen
cavalry as his body-guards ; and at his bridle-
rein on either side were stationed Sir Aymer de
Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and Sir Giles de
Argentine, a gallant knight of Rhodes, who next
to Bruce was accounted the bravest and best
combatant of the age. When King Edward
drew near, and observed the admirable manner
in which the Scots were drawn up, and the con-
fident steady front they maintained, he was as-
toni.shed at their pi-esumption. "What! will
yon Scotchmen fight us^" he cried to Sii' Ingram
Umfraville, a Scot in his service. " Yea, and
sickerly," replied Sir Ingram, who knew well
his countrymen and their king: he advised,
therefore, that a retreat should be feigned, in
which case the Scots would abandon their ground
and pursue in such disorder, in spite of their
leaders, that they would easily be overwhelmed
and crushed; but fortunately for Scotland, Ed-
ward was too confident in his strength to have re-
courae to stratagem. A few moments after the
whole Scottish army knelt as one man, sending
up their orisons to Heaven for aid in the ap-
jjroaching fight, while Abbot Maurice, bare-
footed, and holding aloft a crucifix in his hand,
walked along the front of tlieir line. "See,"
cried Edward, "they kneel! thej' ask mercy!"
"They ask mercy indeed," replied Sir Ingram,
"but not from you: it is to God that they ap-
peal, and upon that field they will conquer or
die." "Then, be it so !" cried the king angrily,
and ordered the trumpets to sound the charge.
That signal was the warning and first note of
a thunderstorm under which the gi-ound rocked
and trembled — for on came the English van
with lances couched, and at the full career of
their war-steeds: the whole m:iss threw itself
upon the right wing of the Scots commanded
by Edward Bruce, which w;is opposed to it, while
the shock of such a terrible meeting was felt
over the whole field. But a wall of sjjear-points
met the charge, and the shaqi-edged axe made
deadly work u]ion the hundreds who were swept
from their .saddles in the onset. This onset of
the van left an open space that was inmiediately
occupied by the main body of the English, who,
moving obliquely to the right, advanced \ipon
the Scottish centre commanded by RandoI|ih,
Earl of ISIoray. But the earl met the attack mid-
way, although the English were at least ten to
one, and when his troops entered the unequal
conflict they seemed to disappear among their
enemies "as if they were plunged into the sea."-

238

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

The Scottish left wing commanded by Douglas
and the Steward now advanced into conflict, and
thus there were three battles extending over the
whole field, while nothing was heard but groans,
and the ringing of blows that struck fire from
the steel armoui' on which they lighted, instead
of the shouts and cries of an ordinary battle-
field. Fearful, indeed, must have been the silence
of that earnestness when two such nations were
so engaged — a silence more appalling than that
of death itself.^ The English cavalry, in whom
the hope of victory chiefly rested, indignant at
the resistance of mere churls that fought on foot,
threw themselves incessantly on the masses of
spearmen,but only to deepen their own disasters;
for the Scottish phalanxes stood firm against
every onset, while men and horses at every
charge were impaled and gored upon the thick-
set palisade of lances that confronted them, let
them assail where they might. And where
was the dreaded archery of England in such
an hour of need ? They had decided the fight
of Falkirk, and they were numerous enough to
decide that of Baunockburn. Nor were tliey
idle on this occasion ; for at the commencement
of the fight they plied their arrows with deadly
eff'ect, especially upon the right wing of the Scots.
But Bruce had anticipated this danger, and
prepared for it. He ordered 500 light-armed
cavalry, the whole of his force of this descrip-
tion, and which he had kept in reserve for the
purpose under Sir Robert Keith, marshal of
Scotland, to make a compass so as to avoid a
conflict with the English horse, and charge the
left flank of the ai-chers. This order was bravely
and skilfully executed, and levelling their lances,
the whole mounted array charged through and
through the groups of bowmen who had no
weapons for close tight, and who were trampled
down in that sudden onset or driven back in
confusion upon the main body. The ground
being thus cleared, the Scottish archers ad-
vanced ; and although inferior in skiU to those
of England, they shot with such effect as greatly
to impede the charges of the English cavah-y.
In the meantime Keith pursued his advantage
so successfully that the splendid archery of
England was cut down, chased off the field, or

1 A lang quhill thus fechtand thai war,
That men no uoyis mycht her thar ;
Men hard noucht bot granys and dintis.
That flew fyr, as men slayis on flintis.
Thai faucht ilk ane sa egerly,
That thai maid nothir noyis na cry.

— Barbour, book ix. 1.

114.

It is interesting to mark at what an e.arly period the " ter-
rible silence " whicli cliaracterizes a British charge in modern
warfare had been adopted. Was Bannockburu the place of
its commencement? At all events it is here that history
notices its first appearance aud eai'uest appalling character.

[a.d. 1312-1314.

driven in panic-struck heaps to the far distant
rear of their own army, from which it was im-
possible to recall them.

In this manner the battle was gallantly con-
tested, and with equal, if not superior advan-
tage on the side of Scotland ; for the enemy's
bowmen were scattered, while the greater part
of their unwieldy host, from the narrowness of
the Scottish front and the defences on either
flank, were unable to enter into action. Bruce,
whose eye and attention were everywhere, be-
held with satisfaction the unbroken condition of
his ranks, the unabated vigour of their continued
resistance, and the dispersion of the English
bowmen, and he cheered his officers with en-
couraging assurances that they would soon be
victorious. He then brought up his fourth line,
which he had kept as a reserve, into the fore-
front of the battle, by which the fight was
kindled into fresh vigour : his whole army now
presented an entire front which the fierce onsets
of the English, now becoming less confident and
more faint, were unable to break asunder; and
the Scottish archers, who carried axes as well as
bows, took an effectual part in hand-to-hand
combat after they had emptied their quivera.
The four Scottish battalions were thus arrayed
side by side, each under the other's observance
and all tmder the eye of their heroic king, and the
efforts both of soldiers and leaders were strung
to the height of chivalrous emulation and pa-
triotic zeal. At last the scales that had so long
remained in even balance began to turn : there
was an evident yielding among the English
ranks, the general symptom in a fight of such
closeness and continuance that the flagging
party were on the point of yielding ; and the
Scots, cheered by the prospect, raised the cry,
" On them ! on them ! — they fail ! " and chai'ged
them with double vigour. Even yet, however,
the English might retreat in order and with
little loss of honour — they might rally on more
open ground where the Scots would not dare to
follow them — they might renew the fight on the
following day with better experience, and forces
still sufiicient to overwhelm and crush their ad-
versaries ! But of all these chances they were
utterly deprived by an unexpected event that
was to turn their yielding into flight and their
defeat into rout and hopeless confusion.

Mention has already been made of the rabble
of camp-followers which Bruce had dismissed
into shelter behind the GilHes' Hill. It has
been thought, from the circumstance of several
brave but undisciplined Highland clans having
been mixed with them, that they were intended
to play a more important part than that of
mere onlookera — that, in fact, they were de-
signed by Bruce to enter upon the scene in the

A.D. 1312-1314.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

239

warlike fashion they did, and at the critical
moment when their appearance would be most
effectual. And that their purpose was of no
timid or pacific character was evident from
their preparations to descend into the field; for
they elected officers, mounted some on the bag-
gage-jjonies, arranged themselves in troops of
horse and foot, and marched with sheets hoisted
upon tent-poles and spears, which looked in the
distance like pennons and gonfalons. Thus ex-
temporized into a warlike array, the motley
groups descended from the Gillies' Hill and
directed theii- imposing march towai-ds the
battle-field. The English, already slackening in
their etlbrts, were confoimded at this apparition,
which they mistook for a fresh Scottish army
advancing to the relief of theii- countrymen,
and began to give way in eai'nest ; the disorder
increased into a panic; and Bruce at that in-
stant raising his war-cry, made such a terrible
charge upon the wavering ranks that their flight
and fate were sealed. Tlieir whole array was
now a confused mass of broken ranks and de-
spairing fugitives; the rear was crowded up
or trampled down by the van ; while those
who hopelessly rallied to renew the battle
or die with honour were borne along by their
flying countrymen, or struck down by the close
onset of the Scots in full pursuit. Never had
England witnessed, either among her own armies
or among those of her enemies, whether far or
near, so terrible and so complete a discomfiture.
Nearly 30,000 were slain in the battle or in the
pursuit. Many fell into the pits, which had
been escaped during the whole couree of the
engagement, and were impaled or captured.
Many were drowned in the Forth after they
had escaped the fii-st danger of the pui-suit. So
com])letely was the Baimock choked with dead
bodies of the English that the pursuing Scots
piussed over it dry-footed. Of Eughshmen of
rank, besides the Earl of Gloucester, Sir Robert
Clifl'ord, an experienced leader, Sir Edmuntl
Mauley, the seneschal of I'^ngland, and othei-s
of almost equal note, 200 knights and 7(iO
csipiires were numbered among the slain. So
many fled for protection to the castle that they
were clustered upon the rock " like bees," until
tliey were dislodged and cajitured by the Scots.
A large body of Welsh, under the command of
Sir Maurice de Berkeley, who had thrown otT
Iheir upper clothing before they entered into
battle, and had afterwards escaped the pui-suit,
were slain or captured by the peasiintry before
they could reach the English Bonier. Even
wlicM the victory was a.ssured and liis army in
full chase Bruce prudently kept his re.serve in
hand, to ])revent the scattered enemy from using
the castle as a rallying point. Uis glorious

victory was the more gi-atifying as it had been
obtained with little loss, only two pei-sons of
knightly rank being slain ; these were Sir Wal-
ter Ross and Sir William Vipont.

Of the conduct of Edward II. during the
conflict we have no account; and from this
silence both of English and Scottish historians
it has been surmised that he cautiously kept
aloof from the danger, and was little more than
a passive spectator. At length, when the last
shock was given by which his ranks were broken
and turned to flight, the Earl of Pembroke, who
attended at his bridle, led the king from the
field. With Edwai-d, also, retreated the gallant
Sir Giles de Argentine, but not far ; for when
he had seen his royal master free from imme-
diate danger he turned, saying, " I never yet
fled ; and here, therefore, I will abide and die
with honour-, rather than escape with disgrace."
Putting his lance in rest and shouting the
cry of, "An Ai-gentine!" he charged the fore-
most rank of Scottish pureuers under the com-
mand of Edward Bruce, and fell covered with
wounds.

In the meantime the King of England, at-
tended by the 500 chosen horsemen that com-
posed his body-guard, continued his ignominious
flight. Distracted, apparently, by his feare, he
directed his firet course to Stii'ling Castle, into
which he sought to be received; but on Sir
Philip Mowbray, the governor, representing to
him that an immediate siege was certain, against
which he could not hold out, and that England
would raise no second army to relieve the castle,
Edward turned his bridle and rode oflF in the
direction of Linlithgow with all his attendants.
It was well for him that the horee he rode, the
princely present of the Bishop of Durham,
was of matchless speed, for a terrible pui-suer
was already on his track ; this was Sir James
Douglas, who, on seeing the flight of the king,
resolved to seal the victory by his capture or
deatli. But he could muster no more for the
chase than sixty horeemen. As he passed the
Torwood in full pui-suit he met Sir Lawrence
Abernethy, with twenty-four mounted retainers,
on his way to join the English ; but on hearing
of their defeat Sir Lawi-euce immediately threw
away his allegiance and joined the Douglas in
the chase. Still they were not strong enough
to give battle, although they overtook the royal
escort a little beyond Linlithgow; all that tliey
could do was to hang ujwn the rear of the fugi-
tives, and cut down every straggler that fell
behind. Edward, thus closely pressed, was not
allowed a single moment to draw bridle ; and
as he spurreil his hoi-se he vowed a vow to the
Virgin that if she would aid him in this strait
he would erect a splendid building to her glory.

240

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1312-1314.

and as a home forherpoorCarmelites.^ At length
he reached Dunbar, full sixty miles from the
field of battle, and was received into the castle
by Patrick, Earl of March, its governor, after
•which he embarked in a small boat and went
by sea to Bamboi'ough. As for Douglas, he
halted the pursuit at Tranent, the weary horses
of his party being unable to carry them farther.
The victors, now in fuU possession of the
field, were at leisure to collect and divide the
spoil, which, according to the generous promise
of Bnice, was parted among the army at large.
It was enough to raise the coimtry at a single
step from hunger to abundance, and fi-om
poverty to wealth; for besides the numerous
flocks and herds and the vast store of pro-
visions which the English had brought along
with them for their permanent support after
a complete conquest, there were vessels of gold
and silver, and rich apparel and costly orna-
ments ; there was armour in heaps, and good
steeds in thousands ; and there were the money-
chests which had been brought for the payment
of the soldiers. There was, besides, for future
consideration, the ransom of the prisoners of
rank, who numbered twenty-two barons and
bannerets and sixty knights. The whole amount
of wealth that thus passed into the hands of the
Scots is estimated by an old English writer ^ at
^200,000 of the money of that period, an
equivalent to ^£3,000,000 of the present day.
Besides this treasure there was among the spoil
a large amount of warlike engines for the de-
fence and attack of castles and walled cities,
that were carefuUy laid aside for the protection
of the land which they had been brought to
subdue. An honourable trophy of their victory
was also found by the Scots; this was the privy
seal of England ; but Bruce, instead of retain-
ing it, as he might have done after the example
of Edwai'd I., who carried off that of Scotland
as a token of his conquest, restored it to the
English king, only stipulating that it should
not again be put to use.^ Indeed, the whole
conduct of Bruce after the battle was so full of
generous magnanimity towards the enemy, not-
withstanding the provocations he had received,
that fatal beyond all others though their defeat
had been, the English were as much subdued
by his clemency as his valour. He buried the
illustrious fallen with all the honours of their
rank, and treated the prisonei-s with courtesy
and kindness, admitting them to easy terms of
ransom. Mindful, also, of his friends who were
still in English captivity, he exchanged John
de Segrave, who was taken at Bannockburn,

1 This vow he afterwards fulfilled by erecting a monas-
ter}' for the Carmelites at Oxford.

2 .VoiiV 1/ ilaliiiesbury, p. 162. ^ Trivet; Feed. Aug.

for five Scottish bai'ons; and soon afterwards
he liberated the Earl of Hereford, who surren-
dered with the castle of Bothwell, in exchange
for his queen, his sister Christina, his daughter
Marjory, Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, aud the
young Earl of Mar. One little incident in his
proceedings after the victory it would be un-
pardonable to omit. At night he had caused
the funeral obsequies of the Earl of Gloucester
to be celebrated in a neighbouring church ; and
at an early hour of the morning he walked over
the battle-field, where a living English warrior
suddenly rose fi'om behind some bushes where
he had sheltered himself for the night after the
I'out and dispersion of his followers. This was
Sir Marmaduke Twenge — perhaps the same
stalwart knight who seventeen years previous
had led the advanced party of English in con-
Junction with Cressingham at the battle of Stir-
ling, and who afterwards so gallantly cut his
way through the Scots and crossed the Forth in
safety. His purpose in the present case was
surrender, not resistance, and upon his knee he
yielded himself prisoner to the king. Bruce
received him with the welcome of a friend,
entertained him kindly for several days, and
then dismissed him not only without ransom
but enriched with gifts. The luckless fate of
another prisoner seems to have excited the
somewhat irreverent mirth of the conquerors.
This was Baston, a Carmelite friar and famous
poet of his day, whom King Edwai-d had
brought with him as his laureate to celebrate
his victories and conquests in Scotland. But
the unfortunate bard fell into the hands of his
enemies ; and having probably, like his tribe,
neither silver nor gold with which to redeem
his captivity, he was required, as the price of
his deliverance, to change his theme and com-
pose a ]3oem on the victory of the Scots at Ban-
nockburn. This palinode he accordingly pro-
duced ; and it has been preserved by Fordun,
in whose eyes it found such favour that he
declares it ought not to be hid under a
bushel but set upon a candlestick.* Although
one of the strangest jingles of Latin rhyme
which that monastic age, fruitful in such puerile
and ai'tificial productions, has bequeathed to us,
it is still not without such touches of pathetic
feeling and genuine poeti'y as suflice to redeem
it from absolute contempt.

On the day after the battle Sir Philip Mow-
bray surrendered the castle of StirUng according
to the terms of agreement. He also abandoned
the service of England for that of Bruce, to
whom he afterwaids adhered with unshaken
fidelity.

' Scoiichron. lib. Jtit cap. 22.

A.D. 1314-1318.] ROBERT BRUCE.

Such was the great fight of Bauuockburn, and
the immediate advantages it produced in wealth,
trophie.'f, and military reputation. But the
moral as well a.s lasting benefits who cau esti-
mate 1 So utterly had it daunted the courage
and quelled the pride of the enemy, that " 100
English would not hesitate to fly from two or
three Scottish soldiers.^ It so strongly estab-
lished the liberty of the country, that although
afterwards it was often rudely shaken, it could
never be destroyed. Even when afterwards
Scotland was at the lowest point of depi'es-
sion, a vigorous reaction was sure to follow;
and when the national spirit thus sprang up
into new life and exertion it was the remem-
brance of Bannockburn and the name of Robert
Bruce that foi-med the stimulant and the watch-
word of this awakening. Nor has its influence
yet perished, or even wased faint; for "Ban-
nockburn" is still a household word among Scot-
laud's children. And not perhaps until the field
itself has passed away amidst the universal dis-
solution of nature will its deeds be forgot, or
its influences imfelt. The name of Marathon is
immortal, although its people have disappeared;
and its tale has inspired the heroism of nations
long before whose beginning Greece herself had
expired. And thus it may be with Bannockburn
when Scotland is no more.

241

During the same year in which this great
national deliverance was achieved a hiuubled
and heai-t-broken old man who was strangely
connected with the event expired. This was
John Baliol, formerly king of the liberated
country, b\it now a despised exile. In his Ciustle
of Bailleul in France he could scarcely be iu-
difierent to tidings of Scotland ; and the rising,
the sufierings, and exploits of Bruce may have
often formed the theme of the pilgrim who
asked bread at his gate, or the wandering trou-
badour who harped in his hall. It would be
hard to guess the mingled feelings of patriotic
pride and family envy with which he may have
listened to each successive report ; or whether
the irritated feelings of a deposed king or the
disinterested satisfaction of a true-hearted Scot
was most prevalent. And how did he welcome
the crowning victory by which the country was
set free, remembering, as he must have done,
that his own abject surrender had sold it into
bondage, and invested his rival with the glorious
oftice of its liberator ? Even through old age,
and dotage, and the advancing infirmities of his
last sickness, these thoughts must have haunted
him, and disquieted his lonely and perhaps un-
pitied departure. Peace be to his memory,
which we are unable to honour ! He died
towards the close of the year.

CHAPTER VIII.

EEIGN OF ROBERT BRUCE-FROM BANNOCKBURN TO THE END OF THE IRISH
EXPEDITION (1314-1318).

Happy effects of the victory of Bannockburn — Bruce's cares as a le^lator — England invaded — A famine —
Edward II. attempts to enlist it against Scotland — Bruce settles the succession to the Scottish throne —
The crown of Ireland offered to Edward Bruce — He accepts the offer — His exploits and victories in
Ireland — Robert Bruce invades the Western Isles — His curious voyage across the isthmus of Tarbet — The
islands reduced to submission —Robert Bruce invades England — He crosses to Ireland to aid his brother —
Defeats the Earl of Ulster — March of the Bruces through Ireland — Generous conduct of Robert Bruce to
a poor woman— Scotland invaded in his absence— Gallant defence of the country by Sir James Douglas —
Ho defeats the English at Linthaughloe— His victories over Sir Edmund de Cailou and Sir Robert Neville —
The English routed at Donibristle liy the Bishop of Dunkeld — Return of Robert Bruce from Ireland-
Edward II. has recourse to the aid of the church — Devices of the pope to compel the Scots to a truce with
England — Failure of the negotiation — The cardinals plundered and stripped — Their fruitless attempts to
establish the ti"uco by a messenger — His account of his mission — Bi-uee surprises the town and eastle of
Berwick— Ho invades England— Misfortunes of Edward Bruce in Ireland — His defeat and death near
Dundalk -Retreat of the Scots from Ireland.

After the glorious victory of Bannockburn
the whole aspect of the land wjis suddenly
changed: the storm was hu.shed, the clouds and
8lia<l()ws were dispersed, and the sunshine had

> VValslngbam, p. loe.

returned. Where there had been poverty there
was wealth and abundance, and the possession
of tliese was sweetened by the thought of the
toil with which they had been purchased, and
the freedom with which they might be enjoyed.
"There wa.s uuiver.-ial niirlli, and si.Iace, and

242

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1314-1318.

blitheness," says Barbour, " for every man was
blithe and jolly." But the watchful prudence
of Bruce would not permit him for a moment
to repose upon his triumphs. Liberty had stiU
to be secured and order restored, without which
his victory would have been no better than a
successful tournament. One of his first cares as
a legislator was to settle the tenure of lands,
which had constantly fluctuated by the usm-pa-
tions of war and conquest since 1286, and to
make them available for the supply of that
royal revenue which was necessary for the
maintenance of his government. With the ad-
vice of his council he accordingly issued a pro-
clamation that all who had claims to land in
Scotland should produce their titles within
twelve months and render the usual homage for
it, otherwise the estates should be forfeited to
the crown. By this simple rule the disjDossessed
families could be replaced, and those Scots who
still remained in England recalled to their alle-
giance. The estates held by royal charter could
be placed upon a permanent footing, and their
debts to the crown as the price of iufeftment or
livery could be regularly and impartially ex-
acted.'

Having issued this order the next care of
Bruce was to maintain by war the advantages
he had already won, and this, too, before the
enemy had recovered from their panic. His fu-st
military operation, therefore, was an invasion of
England, by a force which he sent under the
conduct of Sir James Douglas and Edward
Bruce, whom he had made Earl of Canick on
account of his own rise to the throne. The
Scottish ai-my crossed the eastern marches,
wasted Northumberland, and laid the bishopric
under heavy contributions. After having pene-
trated as far as Richmond in Yorkshii'e without
being opposed, so complete was the depression
of the English, the invaders turned their course
westward, burned Appleby and several other
towns, and marched back to Scotland laden
with plunder. During this inroad we are told
that many of the Northumbrians joined the
Scots against their own countrymen and aided
them in their devastations.-

In this reverse of aflfairs between the two
kingdoms the proceedings of Edward II. were
indicative of nothing but loss and humiliation.
There was no longer word of a fresh invasion
of Scotland : the utmost he now aimed at was
the defence of his own bordei- and the security
of England against the victorious Scots; and
for this purpose he appointed the Earl of Pem-
broke wardeu over the country between Ber-
wick and the Trent, to repress their incursions.

1 Barbour, L ix.

' Chron. Laneroost; Walsiugham.

The king also issued proclamations of levies in
troops and shipping for the protection of the
English border both by land and sea. But these
orders were soon rendered ineffectual by a fre.sh
Scottish invasion that was as little resisted as
the former, and which swept over Redesdale
and Tynedale, wasting every town, village, and
hamlet in its coui'se, and compelling the in-
habitants to ransom their lives at a heavy price.
The Scots then dii'ected their march into Cum-
berland, from which they exacted large sums,
while many of its inhabitants swore allegiance
to the King of Scotland, and made common
cause with the Scots against their own country.
These were doubtless the broken clans of the
Border, the scum and refuse of both countries,
who now began to constitute a people by them-
selves indifferent alike to the welfare of Eng-
land and Scotland, and only faithful to their
own separate interests. Finding that little aid
was to be received from their king, who was at
variance with his own nobles and parliament,
the barons of the northern counties assembled
at York, entered into a mutual league for the
defence of their own districts against the Scots,
and elected four of their number to command
the forces raised for the occasion. But even this
wLse precaution was frustrated by circumstances
which they could not control : the royal ex-
chequer, from which they should have been
supported, w;is empty, or its resources otherwise
employed, and the troops which the barons liad
raised, but were unable to pay, indemnified
themselves by plundering their employera and
assisting the invading enemy.

During the course of this successful career
Bruce hoped that the opportunity had at last
anived of securing an honourable and la.sting
peace, which was necessary for the welfare of
both countries alike. He signified thLs desire
by letter to Edward II., who gTanted a pass-
port to four Scottish commissioners for their
coming to England, and negotiating with the
membere of his council. But the English were
not yet ready to recognize the claims of Scot-
tish independence, and the treaty was abruptly
terminated. The winter of 1314 having thus
passed, the commencement of the following year
saw England afflicted with a severe famine
which had been aggi-avated by the late Scottish
inroads, and which the enactments of the Eng-
lish parliament to lower the price of provisions
could neither remove nor alleviate. As might
be expected, the same calamity extended to
Scotland, and Edward II., unable for the pre-
sent to raise an army against the Scots on ac-
count of the lowness of his exchequer and the
discontent of his barons, resolved to enlist the
general calamity upon his side, and encounter

A.D. 1314-1318.]

EGBERT BRUCE.

243

the enemy with their own favourite weapon.
He therefore issued strict prohibitions against
every supply of provisions to Scotland by the
merchants of Engknd, Ireland, and AITales. As
the Scots at this time also were chiefly depen-
dent upon the continental markets he sent mis-
sives to Holland, Flandei-s, Brabant, and Lunen-
burgh, requesting them to stop the importation
of gi"ain and cattle into Scotland. But at so low
an ebb was his influence in these small states,
and so greatly had the leputation of the rival
kingdom been increased by the victories of
Bruce, that Edward's entreaties, which in the
days of his father would have been received as
authoritative commands, were disobeyed and
set at nought, even though he sent small squad-
rons of ships to cruise round the island, and
intercept all foreign supplies to the Scots. The
Scots, also, in the spring retaliated this new
form of English aggression by invading Nor-
thumberland, upon which they renewed all then-
former severities ; they ravaged the bishopric
of Durham, plundered the seaport of Hartle-
pool, compelling the inhabitants evei'ywhere to
j)ay heavy ransom, and penetrated to the gates
of York. And still, amidst the miseries of his
subjects on the Border, the King of England
was obliged to sit inert and helpless in his
capital. He could raise no supplies from his
parliament even for a defensive war; and though
Gaveston was dead, the barons, who had put
him to death, were too apprehensive of the ven-
geance of Edward to intrust Mm with the com-
mand of an army.

After this invasion the wise foresight of Bruce
made preparations for the settlement of the
crown of Scotland, by which the evUs of a dis-
puted succession, whence the countiy had al-
ready suffered so much, might for the time to
come be avoided. The season also was favour-
able for the purpose; for not only were his own
royal claims now in general acceptance on ac-
count of the deliverance which he had achieved
for the land, but those of the rival house were
considered as forfeited by the calamities it had
entailed, and also by the voluntary abdication
of its head and representative. John Baliol
had also lately died in France, while his son
Edward was an unnoticed resident in England
and a pensionary of its king. The Scottish par-
liament was accordingly assembled at Ayr on
Sunday the 26th of April (1315), and in a full
meeting of clergy, lords, and commons the im-
portant subject was unanimously settled. It
was decreed, with fidl consent of the king and
his daughter Marjory, that should Robert Bruce
die without lieira male of his own body, in that
case his brother Edward, as a man of tried
valour and exiierience, and therefore best fitted

to rule and defend the kingdom, should succeed
to the throne. With the consent of the king
and of his brother Edward, it was provided,
faUtng Edward and heirs male of his body, that
Marjory, and failing her the nearest heir male
descended from King Robert, should succeed to
the crown — under condition, however, that
Marjory should marry with consent of her
father, or, in the event of his death, with the
consent of the majority of the estates of Scot-
land. Should both the king and his brother
die during the minority of an heir male, Thomas
Randol])h, Earl of Moray, was to be guardian
of the heir and kingdom until the heir was of
age; and should Marjory die in widowhood,
leaving an heir under age, or should there be
no male heir, Randolph was to be appointed
guardian of the kingdom until the estates
should determine upon the rightful succession
to the crown.^ In these enactments it wUI be
distinctly seen how the Scots had laid the warn-
ing of the past to heart ; and how anxious they
were that there should be no parallel between
the history of Marjory Bruce and that of Mar-
garet of Norway. Soon afterwards Marjory was
manied to Walter, the hereditary steward of
Scotland, a most important national event, as it
was the source of the Stewart dynasty.

It was now that after a lapse of centuries
Scotland was once more to enter into a close
connection with Ireland. The Anglo-Norman
conquest of that island in the reign of Henry
II. had been succeeded by those severities and
oppressions with which conquerora, when few
in numbei-s, endeavoured to enforce the submis-
sion of the conquered; whOe the Irish, a Celtic
people, and therefore tenaciously wedded to
their peculiar institutions, hated the English
not only as tyrants but as innovators. There
was no congeniality of race, character, or lan-
guage between the two j^eoples that might have
softened the asperities of conquest and resolved
them into a single nation ; on the contrary,
every year only added to the list of Irish in-
juries, and made the separation more complete
and inveterate. In such a state it is not sur-
prising that the present condition of Scotland
should inspire them with the hope of liberty
and revenge. They had watched the couree
of events ; and while they triumphed in the
calamities that had fallen on their oppressors,
they no doubt hoped that with Scottish aid
they might make Ireland as free as Scotland.
The result was an application to Eoljert Bruce
from the chieftains of Ulster entreating his
assistance, and offering to make his brother Ed-
ward theii- king. It has often been matter of sur-

■ Seotichroti. L xii. c 21.

2U

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

prise that Bruce cassented to their appeal. The
recovery of Scotland was but of yesterday, and
could only be maintained by the same course
that had won it. The strength of England was
still unbroken, and might soon rally under a
better leader than its present inefficient ruler;
while the resources of Scotland at the best were
so inferior that their uttermost would be needed
for the trial. It was certain also that this
alluring prospect of Irish conquests and settle-
ments would attract those gallant spirits who
were most needful as well as most effective for
home defence. These considerations were doubt-
less taken into account and allowed their fuU
weight. But how to dispose of his brother was
also Eobert's difficidty. Edward Brace, " that
stouter was than a libbard," we are told, was
too restless to remain in peace, and thought
that Scotland was too little for his brother and
himself.^ The only chance, therefore, of main-
taining the undivided rule of Scotland, perhaps
of transmitting it in peace, was to assist this
restless, ambitious, and popular knight-errant
in winning a kingdom of his own. Besides this
politic consideration there was the promise of
an easy conquest, by which the power and fame
of Scotland might be increased and thej-esources
of England weakened and divided ; and Robert
Bruce was a bold ambitious soldier as well as
a prudent king and sagacious politician. His
consent to the expedition was given, and to-
wards the close of May (1315) Edward Bruce
embarked an army of 6000 Scots in 300 small
vessels at Ayi- to win his new kingdom. Among
the many brave captains who accompanied him,
and whose absence it might be thought Scotland
could least spare at such a crisis, were Randolph,
Earl of Moray, Sir Philip Mowbray, his late
antagonist in the defence of Stirling Castle, Sir
John Soulis, Sir Allan Stewart, and Sir John
Campbell, the nephew of the Scottish king. On
landing, Edward Bruce with characteristic bold-
ness sent back to Scotland the shipping in wliich
his troops had been exported, thus showing his
resolution to win or die by renouncing the
means of retreat.

The narrative of this expedition is in the
highest degree romantic, aboimding with daring
deeds and surprising victories ; but this, indeed,
might have been expected from such an army
and leader, :is well as the state of the country
and the object at stake. On landing, the Scots
commenced their daring march into the interior

' Barbour, lib. x. This view of the character of Edward
Bruce in connection with the Scoto-Irish war is also re-
peated by Fordun; — "Causa hujus guerrje hrec est; iste
Eadwardus erat homo alti cordis, non valens cohabitare
cum fratre suo rege Scotiae, tanquam regnum istud non
foret utrique sufficiens."— 5co(tcAro?i. 1. xii. c. 37.

[a.d. 1314-1318.

in two bodies or battles, the van being com-
manded by the Earl of Moray and the rear by
Edward Bruce. They were soon confronted byau
army of nearly 20,000 English settlers and Irish
natives ; but this ill-assorted and undisciplined
array was attacked and quickly put to the rout
with little lo&s to the invaders. After this suc-
cess Edward Bruce took possession of the town
of Carrickfergus, and here he was joined by ten
or twelve of the Irish reguli or chiefs, who
swore allegiance to him as King of Ireland.
The next exploit of the Scots was to storm a
strong pass occupied by 4000 archere and spear-
men, who were stationed there to block up the
communication between Carrickfergus and the
interior. This the Scots achieved with the same
boldness and success that had distinguished
them in the mountain warfare of their ovra
country; and by this victw-y they procured
great store of cattle for the subsistence of their
army, of which they stood greatly in need.
They then advanced into the country, burning
and slaying in their progress, but confining
their mercUess inflictions to the English settlers
and their Irish adherents. To repel the invadei-s
Richai-d de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, mustered his
military vassals and the English of the province,
and, assisted by those Irish chieftains who had
not joined the enemy, he advanced to give them
battle. He was so far connected with the Scots
as to be brother-in-law to their king, wlio had
married his sister; but his interests as well as
his allegiance were wholly on the opposite side.
As he advanced against the Scots he exceeded
them in the havoc with which he visited the
territories of those who had joined them. Ed-
wai-d Bruce, although greatly outnumbered,
marched forward and encountered the Anglo-
Irish near Dundalk. A long contested battle
followed in which the earl's forces were de-
feated; and on flying for shelter to Dundalk,
the victors followed at their heels and forced an
entrance into the town, which they pillaged
after slaying or ejecting the fugitives. Edward
Bnice then continued his mai'ch southward with
the Anglo- Irish hovering upon his flanks, and
after a series of unimportant skirmishes reached
a gi-eat forest called Kilrose, where the enemy
had collected an army which, according to Bar-
bour, amounted to 50,000, while the Scots, even
though reinforced by their Irish auxiliaries,
were only a fifth of that number. But dis-
mounting and charging on foot, which was now
the favourite mode of Scottish warfare, they
utterly routed the enemy, who were chiefly on
horseback, and drove them into the recesses of
the forest, whither they prudently forebore to
pursue them.

After this specimen of the opening of the

A.D. 1314-1318.] ROBERT BRUCE.

Scottish campaign in Ireland, a campaign which
continued to be filled with other marvellous suc-
cesses, although their precise nature has baffled
historical research, we return to the affaiis of
Scotland. These, during the yeare 1315 and
1316, were signalized by unwonted tranquillity,
tlie English being too closely occupied with the
distracted condition of their own affairs to
attempt a Scottish invasion. Brace therefore
availed himself of the interval to collect and
reconstruct the fragments of his still divided
kingdom ; and for this piu-pose it was neces.sary
to recover fuU possession of the Western Isles,
without which he could have no effectual pro-
tection for the Scottish coasts or a fleet to resist
the English at sea. But the greater part of
these islands were under the dominion of his
deadly enemy John of Lorn, who since his de-
feat at Ben Cruachan and expulsion from the
mainland, had fled thither, and there he ruled
with the authority of an old Noi-se sea-king
and under the protection of Edward II., who
had dignified him with the title of Admiral of
the Western Fleet of England. For this naval
invasion Robert Bruce used the fleet of small
vessels which his brother had sent home ; and
to conceal the purpose of the expedition he col-
lected them at East Tarbet, as if he meant to
dii-ect his course to Ireland. Across the narrow
isthmus between the lochs of East and West
Tarbet the distance from sea to sea is little
more than a mile ; and as doubling the Mull of
Kantire is often a dangerous enterprise for such
small craft as he possessed, he boldly resolved
to transport his whole fleet across by land and
launch it into the opposite sea. He may have
been also induced to this singidar attemj^t from
a prophecy in which the western islandei's
trusted ; it was that they would never be sub-
dued until a fleet had crossed the isthmus of
Tarbet to invade them. Two rows of trees by
his orders were properly smoothed and laid
lengthways and parallel across this low-lying
neck of land ; large rollei-s of trees cut into con-
venient lengths were likewise added to the slides
where they were most needed; and along this
singular railway the ships were dragged by the
troops and marinere and launched into West
Tarbet Loch. It is said also that to facilitate
the movements of the vessels in this voyage by
dry land every sail was hoisted, as the wind was
favour.able for the purpose. Dismayed by this
unexpected approach, and recognizing it as
tlie fultilmeut of the augury, the supei-stitious
islesnien ofl'ered no resistivnce, but everywhere
submitted. John of Lorn, who was taken pris-
oner, was confined in the castle of Dumbarton,
and afterwards in that of Lochleven, where lie
died. To confirm his authority, and perhaps to

245

improve the opportunity of relaxation from his
oppressive trials, the king spent a considerable
time in these islands enjoying the pleasures of
the chase ; and it is probable that at this period
he invested his young son-in-law, Walter the
Stew-aid, with the lordship of the Western
Isles — a title that was perpetuated in the family
of the future dynasty. A more important event
for the house of Stuart, which also occurred
about this time, was the birth of Robert, the
son of the steward and grandson of the king,
who ascended the throne of Scotland as Robert
II. fiftj'-five years afterwards. But this birth
of an heir to royalty and promise of a regular
succession was clouded by the death of Marjory,
which occuiTed a few hours afterwards.

In the meantime the war between Scotland
and England continued, and the fact that no
regular battle signalized it is a f idl proof of the
growing ascendency of Scotland and the de-
pressed condition of her formidable rival. The
Scots, now the assailants at every point, canied
their invasions into Wales, and with such effect
that Edward II., instead of calling the Welsh
levies into the field, was obliged to leave them
for the defence of their own territories. About
midsummer Bruce also conducted in person an
expedition into England, and advanced as far
as Richmond unopposed, which town was only
spared from the flames by a heavj' ransom from
the inhabitants. Bruce then penetrated into the
West Riding, and after devastating the country
for sixty miles round he brought back the armj'
to Scotland enriched with spoil.

The attention of Robert Bruce was now
turned towards Ireland, into which country the
war had mainly been du-ected. Edward Bruce
had taken the castle of Carrickfergus after a
long siege; he had soon after been crowned
King of Ireland; and England was using every
effort to recover her dominion of the island.
The siifety of his brother and the brave aimy
under his command, the hope of wasting the
enemy's resources, and the desire of giving
Scotland a breathing time of recovery may have
influenced the Scottish king, as immediate ad-
vantages worth securing ; and, intrusting the
defence of the kingdom to Sir James Douglas
and Walter the Steward, he embarked about
the end of the year (1316) at Loch Ryan, and
landed at Carrickfergus. At the head of an
army of 20,000 men, half of whom appear to
have been Irish auxiliaries, the two royal bro-
thers made a militarj- progress thi'ough the
island, Edward leading the vau, and King
Robert and the Earl of Moray the rear. Their
line of march lay through an extensive forest ;
and here the Eail of LTlster awaited them at the
head of 40,000 horse and foot, intending to let

246

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

the vau of the Scots pass unopposed thi-ough
the defile, and afterwards to attack and crush
the rear with the weight of his onset. The
rashness of Edward Bruce aided this well-
devised plan of the earl, for he hastily marched
through the wood without jjrevious exjiloration,
and continued his route in confidence that the
rear would safely follow. But as soon as Robert
had entered the pass, the appeai-ance of small
parties of archers that hovei'ed on the outskirts
of his division gave tokens that their army was
at hand ; and perceiving this he gave prompt
command that his troops should mai-ch in close
oi-der of battle, and that no man under any pre-
tence whatever should quit the ranks. So ur-
gent was the need of this precaution, and so
rigidly was it enforced, that when Sir Colin
Campbell, the king's nephew, rode ofi' at full
speed to attack two archei-s who had shot at
him, Robert chastised the lordly trespasser with
a heavy blow of his truncheon. "Breaking of
orders," he cried, "might cause om- utter ruin:
ween you that you ribbalds durst assail us, were
not theu- army at hand?" His calculation was
justified, for a short advance brought them in
front of the whole Anglo-Irish army. But the
Scottish rear from the late precaution was in
trim for instant action; they chai-ged the enemy
though eight times their number, and after a
keen contest defeated them with great slaughter.
As soon as tidings of this victory reached the
ears of Edward Bruce he bitterly lamented that
he had obtained no share in it. " It was owing
to your own folly," replied his elder brother
reprovingly : " no man who commands the vaward
should pass wholly out of sight of the rear."

The march of the Scots was continued, but
with gi-eater circumspection, and meeting no
enemy they arrived at Dublin, which they at-
tempted to capture ; but the citizens adopted
such effectual means of defence that the Bruces
turned aside and directed their coui'se through
Kildare, until they reached the town of Lim-
erick. If they had hoped that their appearance
woidd be the signal for the Irish to rise against
their oppressors they were disappointed : the
English conquest of the country had been too
complete and of too old a date to be thus
shaken oS"; and this long march across the island
from Carrickfergus to Limerick, if we except
the glory of the enterprise and the spii'it with
which it animated the Scots, jiroduced no result.
They retraced their steps to Kildare, the English
still not venturing to give them battle. On
their homeward return an incident occurred
which has endeared the memory of Robert
Bruce more highly to many an afiectionate
heart than all his splendid \dctories. He was
one day aroused by outcries of female lamenta-

[a.d. 1314-1318.

tion ; and on asking the cause he was told that
they were uttered by a washerwoman or laundry-
woman following the army, who had fallen in
travail, and was bewailing the necessity that
would leave her behind to the English, or the
wild kernes their auxiliaries. To stop the march
of an ai-my for such a humble and every-day
incident, and that, too, while the enemy were
following and might soon close upon them, had
seldom, if ever, entered into the possibilities of
military calculation. But good King Robert's
lion heai't was as keenly alive to gentlest emo-
tions as to deeds of daring and the charms of
militai-y glory. " Cei'tes," he said, " it were pity
that she should be left at such a point; and I
trow there is no man who will not have com-
passion upon a woman so bested." He imme-
diately caused his ai-my to halt, and a tent to be
raised for her comfoi'table reception ; ordered
the women of the army to attend upon her, and
gave careful directions about her safe convey-
ance in the march after hei' delivery. Such is
the tale as Barbour relates it ; and he truthfully
and affectionately adds, "This was a great act
of courtesy that such and so great a king should
make his army delay in this manner for only a
poor washerwoman."

The absence of Robert Bruce in Ireland was
welcomed by the English as a choice opportunity
for invading Scotland ; and to this Edward II.
was the more inclined from a temporary recon-
ciliation which had taken place between him
and his offended barons. He accordingly ordered
his army to assemble for the purpose at New-
castle about the end of September, 1317 ; but
this command, instead of meeting with obe-
dience, only woke anew the hostOity of the
English lords, and they failed to appear with
their vassals at the time appointed. Instead of
a united expedition the enterprise therefore
broke down into a series of smaller inroads,
which were successively encountered and gal-
lantly defeated by Sii' James Douglas, the
temporary guardian of Scotland. This renowned
knight, whose especial charge was the defence
of the middle bordere, and whose favourite
haunt was Jedburgh Forest, was selected as a
fit antagonist by the Earl of Arundel, who com-
manded the opposite marches. Knowing that
Douglas had built for himself a spacious man-
sion at Linthaughlee, neai- Jedburgh, and meant
to celebrate its completion by a banquet to his
captains and military vassals, the earl deemed
this a choice opportunity to surprise his an-
tagonist when off his guard. He accordingly
mustered a strong force of 10,000 men well
armed, and also provided with axes ; for he
meant not only to dispei-se the Scots, but to
cleai' the forest of trees, so that it should no

A.D. 1314-1318.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

247

longer be a shelter to the enemy. But Douglas,
who was constantly wakeful and had his spies
abroad, was soon aware of the design of these
unbidden visitors to disturb his revel, and made
preparations for a correspondent welcome. He
collected a band of fifty men-at-arms and fifty
archers, with whom he planted himself in am-
bush at the narrowest part of the approach, his
men-at-arms on one side and the archers on the
other, with an interval of only twenty yards of
clear ground between them; t;iking care also to
secure his archers from an attack of cavalry by
intei-lacing the branches of trees behind which
they were posted into a close, strong-set hedge.
The Earl of Arundel advanced with hLs power-
ful array, little weening of the entertainment
awaiting him; his troops were silently marched
into the opening of the wood, where it afforded
a wide entrance that narrowed as it went
inward; but on nearing the place of ambush,
and when their ranks were crowded together
from want of room, the signal to the Scottish
archers was given, and volleys of arrows were
discharged from theii- safe concealment with
deadly effect. Confounded at this unexpected
greeting, the English ranks recoiled on each
other and were wedged into an unwieldy mass,
when Douglas unexpectedly bui-st upon them
from the opposite side with his fifty horsemen
in full charge. This completed their confusion;
they could neither effectually resist nor escape;
and after sustaining terrible loss they were
finally driven back through the pass and into
the open country, where Douglas with his small
band knew it would be unwise to follow them.
In this battle, also, as was his wont, he com-
bined the office of a brave combatant with that
of a skilful leader; and singling out Sir Thomas
de Richemont, a gallant knight of Brittany who
fought in the ranks of Anindel, he closed with
him and slew him with his dagger. Over his
helmet the Briton wore a furred hat, a material
at that time rare in Scotland, and this rich orna-
ment the Douglas was careful to secure as a
trophy.

Thus the forest was cleared and the enemy
routed by a dai-ing and succe.ssful surprise. But
the work of the victors was not yet quite ended.
During the march of the English, and )irobably
before they entered the wood, they had detached
300 men under the command of a bellicose
churchman named Ellis to make a circuit and
attack the stronghold of the Scots in another
direction, so as to multiply the chances of suc-
ce.'ss. The ecclesiastic found his way to the man-
sion of Linthaughlee and its savoury l:udei-s,
where all w.a.s in readiness for the promised
feast; and thinking, no doubt, that their owner
was already dead or in full flight, he yielded to

the tempting opportunity, and sat down with
hLs companions to eat, drink, and be merry.
But the Scots soon returned both hungiy and
weary, and were therefore in the worst of moods
to find their places occupied ; their swoids flew
from their sheaths; and the battle that followed,
which was very brief, proved a fatal reckoning
to most of the guests, who were stretched life-
less on the floor. The remnant that escaped
reached the main body, already driven out to
the plain; and when they had told their tale
Ai-undel felt no inclination to return to the
forest and tempt a fresh encounter. Instead
of this he hastily retreated across the Border.

After the depai-ture of the Earl of Arundel
another antagonist to Sir James Douglas soon
entered the field; this was Sir Edmund de
Cailou, a knight of Gascony, and countryman
of the late favourite Gaveston, to whom Ed-
ward II. had intrusted the important govern-
ment of Berwick. Resolved to signalize him-
self by a deed of arms against the Scots, and
enrich himself with theii- plunder. Sir Edmund
advanced into the lower part of Teviotdale and
the Mei-se, spreading his devastations in every
duection. Sir Adam Gordon, now a reconciled
Scot, brought tidings of the inroad to Douglas,
who resolved to meet the invader and recover
the spoil. He gathered his followere for the
purpose; but on approaching the enemy, who
were on their way back to Berwick, he found
that their numbei-s far exceeded his own, and
were much greater than had been reported.
While he hesitated on this accoimt to attack
them de Cailou sent his plunder to Berwick,
and advanced to the encounter. It was an un-
equal conflict in an open field, as the English
were two to one, while theu' commander was an
able and gallant leader. At length Douglas, on
finding his men hai-d pressed, resolved to decide
the contest by the death of de Cailou, and was
successful, for the G;iscon feU beneath his sword;
his followers took to flight, and the plunder they
were caiTying off was recovered.

The personal prowess of Douglas was now so
famed that an encounter with him on superior
or even equal terms was one of the highest
marks of knightly ambition. This was the case
with Sir Robert Neville, at that time residing
in Berwick, who, on hearing the terrible tales
of the might of Sir .Tames which were brought
to Berwick by the fugitives, declared that he
would meet this dreaded knight in combat if
he dared to display his banner before the walls
of Berwick. Douglas was not a man to over-
look such challenges ; he was soon within sight
of the town; ;uul, to rouse his adversary and
bring him forth, he caused his troops to waste
the adjacent country and set fire to the villages.

248

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

Sir Robert rushed out, hoping to surprise the
Scots while thus dispersed ; but Douglas quickly
recalled them and advanced in order of battle.
When the fight was at the hottest the promised
combat between the two leadera commenced ;
but the Englishman proved the weaker and fell
lifeless to the earth. The rout of his followers
was comj)lete; several of high rank were made
prisonei-s ; and Douglas, after wasting and plun-
dering the country at pleasure, returned unop-
posed to the forest. A usual practice with him
after such forays, which he observed on the
present occasion, was to divide the spoil among
his soldiers, reserving none to himself. It was
not wonderful, therefore, that they were so
ready to follow him, or that they bestowed on
him the title of " The Good Lord James."

By these successes of the gallant Scottish
guardian during the absence of tbe king in
Ireland the army which Edward II. had col-
lected at Newcastle was destroyed in detail
and the safety of the country ensured. Another
attempt at invasion which the English made by
sea was equally unsuccessful. A strong body of
troops embarked on the Humber, sailed up the
Firth of Forth, and landed at Donibristle, with
the intent of laying waste the peninsula of Fife.
To oppose their lauding 500 horee were hastily
collected by the sheriff of the county; but, on
seeing the superior force of the invadei'S, the
horsemen drew bridle and were soon in f uU flight.
At the sight of this disgraceful spectacle William
Sinclair, Bishop of Dunkeld, met and ai-rested
the fugitives with indignant taunts : " Ha ! my
good knights, whither away? — the king should
hack off your gilt spui-s from your heels for
taking such care of the country in his absence ! "
Throwing oflf his priestly raiment and seizing
a spear he cried, " Let every one who loves
his king and country follow me!" and with
these words he turned the tide of flight and
charged the English, who were little prepared
for such a sudden change. The desperate onset
of this strong- limbed, stout-hearted, soldier-
looking prelate, ably seconded by the ridei-s of
Fife, drove the English back in disorder to
their shipping ; 500 of them were slain in the
conflict and chase, and many were drowned
from the sinking of several vessels into which
they too eagerly crowded. This deed, among
the other achievements of the war, was so wel-
come to the king at his return from Ireland that
he honoured Sinclair with the title of "My own
Bishop." 1

The return of Bruce was so welcome to his
people that the whole land rejoiced at his
arrival ; and on his way from the coast of Gal-

> Barbour; Scotichron.

[a.d. 1314-1318.

loway, where he landed, he was feasted by the
nobles and followed by crowds. There was,
indeed, good cause for such a popular ovation, for
the whole country was now recovered from the
yoke of England with the exception of the town
and castle of Berwick ; while the Scottish nobles
were obedient to his authority, such as refused
having been previously sent into banishment.
In this state of affaire, which he was unable to
subvert by arms, Edward II. had recourse to
the church. But it was not now the reposses-
sion of Scotland which he aimed at ; his utmost
wish seems to have been nothing more than to
be protected from the aggressions of the Scots.
He found in Pope John XXII. a ready ally,
who about the beginning of 1317 issued a buU
from Avignon, his place of residence, command-
ing a truce to be established between the two con-
tending countries on pain of excommunication.
But it was evident to what side this partial
ai'bitrator inclined by the title which he gave to
the Scottish sovereign, whom he only recognized
as " his beloved son, the noble Lord Robert
Bruce, carrying himself as King of Scotland."
The pontiff also sent two cardinals into England
to enforce the establishment of the truce, and
empowered them to inflict the highest ecclesi-
astical punishments upon Bruce and all his ad-
herents in the event of their refusal, which was
expected to follow. Another formidable weapon
with which they were privately intrusted in the
event of his opposition, and upon which in this
Ciise they were to act, was a papal sentence by
which Robei't Bruce and his brother Edward
were declai-ed excommunicated persons. By an-
other bull the Minorite Friars were denounced
for preaching rebellion in Ireland and stirring
up the natives to join the Scottish invasion.
Thus ai'med at all points with the weapons of
the church they ai-rived in England, and com-
menced the campaign by obtaining letters of
safe -conduct for themselves and their nuncios
to open their communication with the King of
ScofB. But Bruce in the stern school of experi-
ence had learned a wisdom which was more than
a match for the craft of the cardinals, and his war
with the church was not the least important in
the record of his battles and victories.

The particulare of this new invasion of Scot-
land, which were detailed at length by the car-
dinals themselves to their ecclesiastic;il superior,
are well worth noting.^ Halting at Durham,
where a new bishop was about to be conse-
crated, they sent the Bishop of Corbeil and
Master Aumery, their nuncios, across the Bor-
der, of whom, when the conference with the

2 Feed. Angl. p. 661, et sequent. Their missive was tl.ated
7th September, 1317, from Durham.

L.D. 1314-1318,]

EGBERT BRUCE.

249

Scottish king was ended, the one was to return
speedily with the tidings, while tlie other was
to follow at his leisure. They were couileously
received by Robert Bruce; and in answer to
their proposals he expressed his acquiescence in
their wish for a good, firm, and peipetual peace;
but as he was only addressed as Governor of
Scotland he stated that he could not admit
them to a definitive interview upon the subject
while so addressed without the permission of
his bai-ons in full council. Upon the same plea
he refused to receive and open the papal letters
addressed to Lord Robert Bruce; "for," said he,
" there are otlier barons in Scotland of the name
of Robert Bruce who have a share in the govern-
ment of the country." Thus the papal epistles
were returned, like the " mis-sent " billets of a
modern post-office. Tlie nonplussed messengers
then attempted to rally by an excuse for the
omission of his royal title ; it was not custom-
ary, they said, for his holy mother the church
to prejudge a question which was still in con-
troversy; but to this apology his reply was bold
and distinct : " Since my father the pope and
my mother the church are unwilling to preju-
dice either party by giving me the title of king,
they ought not to prejudice me during the con-
troversy by withholding it ; for I not only have
possession of the kingdom and receive the title
of king from its people, but am addressed under
that title by other princes. But my spiritual
parents assume an evident partiality among their
sons. Had you presumed to ofler letters so ad-
dressed to other kings, you might perhaps have
been otherwise answered." All this, the messen-
gere decLoied, was delivered in an aflable manner
and with a pleasant countenance, " evincing all
due reverence for your holiness and the church ;"
but they must have felt the bitterness that lurked
under his words and the sliame of their defeat.
And this, too, at their own weapons and by a
barbarian king ! They then besought him to
cease from hostilities with England for the pre-
sent at least ; but were told that this could not
be done withoiit the advice and assent of his
barons, more especially as the English were
daily committing hostilities upon various parts
of Scotland.

Thus terminated this singular interview be-
tween the King of Scots and the ambassadors
of the pope ; and although the pro[X)sals of
peace were to be taken into considei-ation at a
remote day Vv-hen a full Scottish parliament
could be assembled, the nuncios were convinced
that nothing could be accomplished until Bruce's
royal title was acknowledged by the Roman con-
clave. They therefore returned to England; but
even yet the vexations of their mission had
not ended. The English Border at this time
VOL. I.

swarmed with unemployed or disbanded sol-
diers ; and in the troubled state of the country
they were becoming formidable outlaws, ready
to side with whatever cause was strongest, and
attack wherever plunder was most plentiful.
It is sujjjJosed that Bruce was in communica-
tion with these desperate allies, and had incited
them to a deed in full keeping with theii- char-
acter ; this was nothing less than an onslaught
upon those churchmen, who, under the peaceful
character of arbitrators, were seeking to enslave
the kingdom to England and drive him from
the throne. The deed was perpetrated a few
miles from Darlington, where the cardinals and
their returning messengers seem to have met in
council upon the affairs of the church. On this
occasion a formidable band of these English free-
booters, under Gilbert Middleton and Walter
Selby, their leaders, rushed from the wood in
which they were ambushed, and not only made
the nuncios prisoners but also the two cardi-
nals, the new Bishop of Durham who accom-
panied them, and Henry de Beaumont, his bro-
ther. The churchmen were plundered, stripped,
and dismissed, with the exception of the two
Beaumonts, whom the chief outlaw kept as
prisoners in his castle until their liberty was
purchased by a heavy ransom. Such were the
chief particulai's of an event very confusedly
related, and of which neither the distinct date
nor the object is specified. If it was a mere
marauding exploit it is sufficiently intelligible
according to Border usages, but if its purpose
was to capture the papal missives it certainly
failed.

Having thus been baffled in their first at-
tempt the cardinals resolved to make fuU use of
those extraordinary powers with which they
were invested. As yet they had only talked of
truce and pretended to act as impai-tial peace-
makers; but now they resolved to proceed to the
extremities of interdict and excommunication,
which they had kept in secret as a last resource.
A pretext was necessai-y for their use, but this
they could easily create : it was merely to pro-
claim the two yeai-s' ti-uce in Scotland as author-
ized by the pojje, well knowing that Bnice would
indignantly refuse it, and thus commit himself
to their censures. To find a martyr to carry
their proclamation into Scotland was their only
difficulty, but this they easily procured in Adam
Newton, father-guardian of the Minorite Friars
of the monastery of Berwick, who set off on his
perilous mission furnished with letters from the
cardinals to the principal clergj- of Scotland,
charging them upon their vow of spiritual
obedience to enforce the requisitions of the jwpe.
But Adam's own account of his proceedings on
this occasion is too important to be omitted.

250

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1314-1318.

In his letter to the cardinals he thas wi-ites from
Berwick on his return : —

"In the first place, after passing through
England I arrived, with God's assistance, at the
town of Berwick, and then set out safe and
sound with all my letters for Scotland, yet not
without great danger and difficulty. And on
the Friday before the feast of St. Thomas the
Apostle I set out in the morning from Berwick,
and arrived at a certa,in town called Old Cam-
bus, distant about twelve miles from Berwick,
nigh to which town the Lord Eobeit Bruce was
encamped with his accomplices, and labouring
nio-ht and day in the consti'uction of various
machines for the siege and desti-uction of Ber-
wick. And what I feared at first, afterwards
befell me. But that I might proceed with cau-
tion, I left the bulls and all the letters, with
your process, in safe custody at Berwick, until
I should have a safe-conduct from the aforesaid
Lord Robert, which I received from Lord Alex-
ander de Seton his seneschal, and Master John
de Montforth his clerk.

"And having returned from Berwick with
the bulls and other letters to the said town of
Old Cambus, they refused to let me have per-
sonal treaty with the above-mentioned Robert,
but ordered me to give them the letters that
they might themselves present them to him,
and ascertain whether they were for him or
against him. And before them, and a great
crowd there assembled, I proclaimed publicly
and expressly the truce that had been ordained
and established by our high pontifi' between
England and Scotland; which proclamation they
scouted. And because he was not addressed as
King of Scotland in the buUs he returned
them and the other lettei-s with contempt,
declaring that he would receive neither the
bulls nor your processes, unless he was ad-
di-essed as King of Scotland, and until he had
taken the town of Berwick. And on having
seen and heard all this I was gi-eatly troubled
in heart as to how I should escape from the
hands of my enemies, difficulties being on every
side, not only for the preservation of my lettei-s,
but mine own mortal life. And I entreated and
adjured them in the name of the Lord, that in
charity and compassion, and from their rever-
ence to the Holy See, they would give me a safe-
conduct to Berwick, which they refused; neither
■would they gi-ant me one to pass further into
Scotland to transact affairs with certain prelates
of the country, as you gave me in charge, but
dismissed me bereft on all hands, and ordered
me to be gone from Scotland as soon and as fast
as I could.

" And in the morning, being disturbed, I
hurried away from them, and journeyed back

towai-ds Berwick. But in my jom-ney I was
encoimtered by four armed ruffians, who spoiled
me of all my letters and of my raiment even to
the skin. It is also rumoured that the said Lord
Robert and his accomijlices, who instigated this
outrage, have the lettei-s in their possession.
What ought now to be done against these con-
tumacious rebels and despisers of apostolic
authority, your wisdoms can better decree than
I am able to surmise ; but I declare to you be-
fore God, that I am even yet ready, as I have
hitherto been, to labour unremittingly in your
affairs." ^

In this strange episode of the unfortunate
Adam Newton we have a papal controversy
curiously can-ied on and as oddly terminated.
On the one side is John XXII. devoted to the
cause of the richer and stronger kingdom, and
the membei-s of his conclave, many of whom
were the purchased pensionaries of Edward II.;
on the other is a bold, rough waixior-king, con-
tending for national independence, and sur-
rounded by a court of ii'on-clad barons, few of
whom were able to read the lettere which they
were so eager to clutch and destroy ; while the
place of interview and negotiation was a forest
ringing with the din of falling trees that were
to be converted into battering-rams and turrets.
According to the mood in which it is received
it is a hostile meeting of mind and matter ; a
warlike interchange of defiance between the
corporeal and the spiritual; a confronting of the
boldest and bravest against those terrors before
which the bravest were wont to succumb. But
stm, in the conduct of Brace we recognize the
predominance of a commanding intellect that
held onward in its path of duty in spite of the
sophistries that might have perplexed, or the
terrors that might have daunted it, and gal-
lantly persevering in a species of warfare be-
neath which kings and emperors had fallen.
Even the ultima ratio of each was in keeping
with his chai-acter ; and when the thunderbolt
of excommunication was finally drawn forth it
was extinguished; and by what? — a pail of
water. Four Border thieves, or soldiers who
needed little disguise to pass as such, are let
loose when every other form of argument has
failed, who quash the whole proceeding by a
simple act of highway robbery. It was pro-
bably not without reason that a rumour was
prevalent of the bulls and lettei-s having found
their way into Bruce's own keeping.

The devoted and brave-hearted friar, as we
have seen, found the King of Scotland employed
in preparations for the reduction of the last
English possession in Scotland. Its defence

1 Foedera Ang. voL ii. p. 351 ; Edward II. An. Dom. 1317.

A.D. 1314-1318.] ROBEKT BRUCE.

was as important to England as its recovery
could be to the Scots, as it was a gate between
both kingdora.s, and therefore available for the
purposes of invasion to whatever power might
possess it. Of this the English were well aware,
and had fortified it so strongly that the limited
resources of Bruce for a lengthened siege might
have proved unavailing. It happened, however,
that Roger Horeely, the governor of Berwick,
having maltreated an English burgess named
Simon Spalding, the latter resolved to have
ample revenge by betraying the town to the
Scots. He accordingly sent intimation to an
influential officer in the Scottish army, to whom
he was related by marriage, that on a pai-ticular
night he would be upon guard at a certain part
of the walls, where they were low and might
be easily scaled; and that if the Scots advanced
upon this quarter he would admit them into the
town. The officer earned this important intima-
tion to Bruce himself, who said, "You did well
in discovering this first to me; for had you told
it either to Randolph or Douglas you would
have offended the one from whom you kept it
back; but I will make use of both, and they shall
aid you in the enterprise." He ordered him to
repair with his band to Dimse Park, about four-
teen miles from Berwick, and there hold him-
self in readiness for the appointed evening; and
thither .also he afterwards sent Douglas and
Randolph at the head of a strong party. This
rendezvous at so distant a point was doubtless
for the pui'pose of misleading the English gar-
rison in Berwick, who could scai-cely imagine
that this muster was for any other pui-pose tlian
an inroad into England. Marching rapidly and
secretly from Dunse Park, the assailing party
reached the walls near the Cow Port, and with
the aid of Spalding fixed their scaling-laddei-s
and mounted without opposition. They rushed
into the streets, and the garrison that nm hither
and thither in small jjarties were either cut to
pieces or driven into the castle. It was for-
tunate, however, that in this night siu-prise
Randolph and Douglas kept a strong party of
their men together, for their comrades had flown
\i])on the spoil, while the English in the castle,
who still outnumbered tiie Scots, made a sally
in the hope of recovering the town. But they
were driven back to their stronghold by the two
chiefs at the head of the reserve. Tlie town
being thus taken, Bruce advanced with the rest
of his army and laid siege to the castle in form,
which surrendered five days after. Thus fell
tlie last as well as the most important of the
English ])Ossession3 in Scotland, and the con-
quests of Edward I., on the 3d of April, 1318,
and the land was now completely free. As its
' apture by the King of England also had been

2.51

an unsparing massacre, its recovery by Bruce
was signalized by his wonted magnanimity and
clemency, for he gave quarter to all who sought
it. Berwick had continued to be used by the
English as an important mercantOe emporium,
so that the victore were enriched with its plun-
der; and Brace, being well aware both of the
military and political importance of the place,
instead of demolishing its defences, as he had
done with other recovered strongholds, resolved
to retain it in all its integrity as a barrier of the
kingdom. He therefoi'e inti'usted the govern-
ment of the town and castle to his son-in-law,
Walter the Stewai'd, and stored it with every
engine of defence which the military science of
the age could devise.

This important capture was almost imme-
diately followed Ln the same month by a Scot-
tish inroad into Northumberland, in which
Bruce reduced the castles of Werk and Har-
bottle by siege, and took by surprise the castle
of Mitford. On this occasion he laid the coun-
try under contributions of victual instead of
money; and the provision thus collected was
stored up in Berwick against the chances of a
future siege. On the following month the in-
vasion was repeated in gi'eater force and over
a wider range, for the Scottish army penetrated
into Yorkshire, plundered and bm-ned the towns
of Northallerton, Burroughbridge, Scarborough,
and Skipton in Craven, and obliged the inhabi-
tants of Ripon to free themselves from a like
calamity by the ransom of 1000 marks, equal to
about £10,000 of modern money. This visita-
tion was so destructive that those places which
had endured it were in the following year
exempted by the King of England from a
general taxation. The Scottish army, after
wasting the country at pleasure, returned home
without opposition, laden with booty, and with
so many prisoners that they are described by
the English historian as "driving them like
sheep before them."'

WhOe the Scottish wai- against England was
thus prosperously conducted at home, the cam-
paign in Ireland was hastening to a melancholy
termination. After the depai'ture of the Scot-
tish king, Edward Bruce continued his adven-
turous career ; but althougli his coui-se had
hitherto been so victorious he had been unable
to establish his rule anywhere but in Ulster,
and even there it was of a jjrecarious chai-acter.
At length Lord John de Berniugham, the Eng-
lish commander, mustered a numerous aimy to
drive these intnulers from the soil, and on the
5th of October, 1318, advanced to Fagher, near
Dundalk. His array is swelled by B;irbour to

> Chrm. Lantrcott, lU. S72; Fad. Angl.

252

HISTORY OF SCOTLAl^D.

more than 40,000 strong ; but if we rate it at
half the amount it was still sufficient to exter-
minate the handful to whom it was opposed,
for the army of Edward Bruce amounted to
little more than 2000 Scots. It is added, in-
deed, that this force was supported by 20,000
of his Irish subjects or auxiliaries, but they
were an undisciplined mob on whom no reli-
ance could be placed ; they even refused to take
a share in the coming conflict, alleging that it
was not their mode of warfare to contend in
pitched battles, but to maintain it by flying
retreats, ambuscades, and skirmishes. As the
enemy were so numerous, and as the Scottish
king was expected to return speedily with rein-
forcements, the captains of Edward Bruce coun-
selled a retreat ; but his many successes made
him over-confident, and he scorned a sugges-
tion which his own brave brother would have
adopted without scruple. His only precaution
was one often adopted in ancient warfare, of ar-
raying one of his bravest officers in his own arms
and armorial cognizances while he fought him-
self in the harness of a common knight. In the
battle the Scots were speedily overwhelmed by
the enemy's numei-ous cavalry; Edward Bruce
himself was slain at the first charge by John
Manpas, an English champion, who fell dead
upon the body of his brave antagonist; and
nearly the whole of the Scottish captains shared
the fate of then- leader. In this manner, after

[a.d. 1318-1326.

eighteen victories, was the meteoric course of
the new King of Ireland extinguished, and the
hopes of a Scottish ascendency in that country
brought to an abrupt close. But subsequent
events showed that this unfortunate expedition
had eflfected all the benefit which it was fitted
to produce, by causing a temporary diversion of
the English aims from Scotland, and animating
the Scots with fresh courage by its victories ;
while its prosecution would have uselessly
drained their kingdom of its brave adventurers
whose services were soon to be so needfid at
home, and added the necessity of defending Ire-
land to their own numerous difficulties in the
maintenance of national independence.

After this victory of the English at Fagher
the field of battle was searched and the body of
Edward Bruce found; but the conduct of the vic-
toi-s on this occasion was diff'erent from that of
his brother after the victory at Bannockburn,
for they quai-tered the body and exposed the
mangled remains in fom- different places in Ire-
land, while the head was sent to England as an
acceptable present to Edward II. De Berning-
ham was richly guerdoned with the ear-Idem of
Lowtli and other special distinctions. The hand-
ful of Scots who survived the defeat were rallied
by John Thomson, the leader of the men of Car-
rick ; and having extiicated them from the
tlu-ong he efl'ected a dangerous retreat to Car-
rickfergus, where they embarked for Scotland.'

CHAPTER IX.

REIGN OF ROBERT BRUCE CONTINUED (1318-1326).

New arrangement in the succession to the Scottish throne — Military enactments for the defence of the kingdom
— Regulations for the arms and conduct of soldiers— Machinations of King Edward against the Scots — He
invades Scotland — Berwick besieged by the English — Engines used in its defence — Berwick attacked by
land and sea — Engines used in the attack— Gallant defence of the to^^•n— The Scots, under Randolph and
Douglas, invade England— Their victory at Mytton— The siege of Berwick raised— A short truce between
England and Scotland — Remonstrance and justification sent by the Scottish parUament to the pope —
Conspiracy against Bruce — Its authors tried and punished by the " Black ParUament "—Conspiracy of the
English nobles against Edward— Its suppression— His vainglorious confidence— England twice invaded by
the Scots— Edward enters Scotland with an immense army — He is driven back by famine — Bruce follows
the invaders into England— He defeats Edward at BUand— Bruce's conduct to the prisoners— Plot of the
Earl of CarUsle against Edward— The earl is executed— Another truce established between Scotland and
England— Bruce seeks a reconciliation with the pope — He sends Randolph for this purpose— Randolph's
dexterous and successful diplomacy— Birth of Brace's son, afterwards David II.— Death of Walter the
Steward.

The death of Marjory Bruce as well as that
of her uncle Edward had rendered new regula-
tions for the royal succession necessary, and a
parliament was accordingly held for the purpose
at Scone in the beginning of December, 1318.

Here, after engaging to maintain the royal
rights of Robert Bruce, theii- king, against all
who should oppose them, it was decreed by the

L Barbour, xii ; Irish Annals.

A.D. 1318-1326.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

253

prelates, earls, barons, and others of the com-
munity, that shoiild he die without an heir
male, Robert, the son of Marjorj', should suc-
ceed him in the throne; and that if the said
Robert, or any heir male of Robert Bruce, should
be a minor at the period of succession, Thomas
Randolph, Earl of Moray and Lord of Man,
shoidd be tutor and curator of the young heir
and guardian of the kingdom ; or failing him,
Sir James Douglas, until Robert Stuart shoidd
be capable of governing. As doubts also had
risen in times past about the rule by which the
succession to the kingdom of Scotland should
be judged and determined, it was likewise de-
creed that this rule ought not to have been
regulated, nor should be in future, according
to the practice observed in inferior fiefs and
inheritances, as such had not been the custom
in regard to the succession of the kingdom;
" but that the male nearest to the king at his
death, descending in the direct Line, or fading
such male, the nearest female in the same direct
line; or failing the whole direct Line, the nearest
male in the collateral line ; respect being always
had to the right of blood by which the deceased
king reigned ; and which heir so designed shall
succeed to the kingdom without any let, hind-
erance, or contradiction whatsoever."' On this
assignment of the offices of tutor, curator, and
guardian, the Earl of Moray and Sir James
Douglas laid their hands upon the holy gospel
and relies of the saints and solemnly swore
to perform the duties of these offices accord-
ing to the best of their ability. In like manner
this decree of guardianship and law of royal
succession was sworn to by all the members,
both Lay and clerical, of parliament, who also
affixed their seals.

Besides this readjustment of the important
question of royal succession, other useful regula-
tions were decreed, which had for their object
the safety and welfare of the kingdom. As
might be expected from the condition of Scot-
land at the time, they were chiefly of a military
character. Evei-y layman possessed of laud
who had £10 worth of movable property- was
ordered to provide himself with a liacqueton, a
basnet, and gloves of plate, with a sword and
spear; he wlio had not a hacqueton and bas-
net was to have, instead, a habergeon, a good
iron jack, and an iron knapiskay, with gloves of
plate; and all this under foi-feiture of his goods or
movable property, half to the king and half to
his feudal superior. Every man having the
value of a cow w.as to be provided with a bow
and a sheaf of twenty-four arrows or a spear.

• Scclichron. I. liii. c. 13.

' Equal to about £160 in mudern mouey.

Tlie lords and sherifis were enjoined to enforce
this law, aud hold a wapinschaw for the purpose.
In repairing to the royal army every man was
to subsist upon the road at his own charges ; if
he came from a place near the rendezvous he
was to bring his own carnage and provisions,
and if his place of residence was too remote for
such a purpose he was to furnish himself with
a sufficient sum of money. Such persons were
to be adequately supplied with necessaries on
payment ; and if these were refused them, they
were authorized to take what was needed, but
always at the sight of the bailies or magistrates
of the district or the nearest neighbours. Hav-
ing thus facilitated their journey to headquar-
tei-s, every security was taken against that
military license in which aimed men in every
country ai-e so prone to indulge duiing a march;
and whoever committed murder, robbery, or
theft while coming to the army, remaining in
it, or departing ftom it, was to be punished by
the justiciary according to the crime and the
law; while the bailie or judge of the district
where the offender dwelt was to compel his
appearance before the justiciary of the place
where the offence was committed. In another
law of peculiar stringency, by which the mili-
tary resources of the kingdom were to be hus-
banded for self-defence, it was decreed that to
supply the English with bows or arrows, or
with any kind of weapons or armour, or with
horses, or with any kind of aid or assistance
whatever, was a capital offence and to be pun-
ished accordingly. It was, moreover, decreed
that no ecclesiastics should remit money to
Rome for the purchase of papal bulls — although
without the sanction of these bulls, according
to the reckoning of the church, no ecclesiastical
dignity could be confirmed. In the same statute
also it was enacted that all absentees in England
who possessed lands in Scotland should draw no
money out of the kingdom. The other laws that
were passed at this pai-liament of Scone were
directed against the civil offences of theft-boot
and leasing-making, which during this disturbed
period must have been of frequent occurrence.^
In the meantime Edward II. had been doing
his utmost to move heaven and eartli against
Scotland and its king. Not satisfied that Robert
Bruce had already been excommunicated, he
caused the two cardinals who were still in Eng-
land to pronounce the sentence anew; and when
the Scots appealed to the jiapal court at Avi-
gnon against the sentence he procured their
appeal to be disallowed and set aside. He
endeavoured to enlist the pontiff's aid in pro-
moting treason among the Scots by offering to

> Begium MajuL chap. T. stat Bobeit L

254

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1318-1326.

those who were excommunicated a full absolu-
tion if they would desert their king and turn
to the cause of England.' In the same spirit
Edward endeavoured to prevent all commer-
cial intercoui-se of Fkmdei's, Brabant, and the
Netherlands with the Scottish poiis, by repre-
senting to these continental states that the Scots
were an excommunicated people, and therefore
vmworthy to have dealings with Christian men.^
And having now eifected a reconciliation with
the Lancastrian party, he resolved to try once
more the chances of wai" and signalize its com-
mencement by the recovery of Berwick. He
accordingly summoned his mUitaiy vassals of
England and Wales to assemble at Newcastle-
upon-Tyne on the 24th of July, 1319, and ap-
pointed a powerful fleet to block up the mouth
of the Tweed in order to prevent all supplies
from being sent into Bei^wick, while he besieged
it by land. All things being in readiness, and
the prayei-s of the church having been seciu-ed
for the success of the entei-piise, the march
commenced about the beginning of September :
and so confident was Edward on this occasion
of a complete conquest of Scotland, that, like a
munificent patron, he had ah-eady parcelled out
several of its best church livings among his
adherents.'' With these preliminaries he com-
menced the siege both by land and sea ; and as
his ai'my was numerous, whOe the best and
bravest of the English nobles were present in
pei-son, there was every prospect that Berwick
would be speedily taken. Having secured his
camp by lines of circumvallations consisting of
strong ramparts and deep ditches, to prevent
the Scots fi-om relieving tlie town by land, and
closed up the river with his shipping, Edwai-d
resolved to effect the capture by storm, and
fixed St. Mary's Eve (7th September) for the
period of assault.

The condition of Berwick thus isolated from
all aid, and so formidably beleaguered, miglit
well make the friends of Scottish liberty an-
xious for the result. Since its fijst capture by
Edward I. in 1296 its defences had been con-
siderably increased, so that the wall which sur-
rounded it was about fifteen feet high ; but this
height was reckoned no fonnidable obstacle in
ancient escalade; and those parts of the wall
that were to be attempted were confronted by
high mounds of eai-th that had been raised by
the besiegei-s. The success of resistance had
mainly to depend upon the gallant hearts within,
the nature and amount of their resources, and
their skill in using them. And here we find
that Walter the Steward, the commander of

1 Feeder. Aiig. iii 764.
3 Ibid. Iii. 785-6.

' Ibid. iii. 759.

Berwick, though young and unexperienced,
was possessed of that high courage that made
him worthy to be the father of an illustrious
race of kings ; five hundred knights and gentle-
men, who were ofiicei-s of the gai-rison, were his
own kinsmen ; and his zeal and activity in pre-
paring the defences had won the confidence of
the soldiei-s. Of the wai'like engiues, originally
taken by Bruce himself from the English at
Bannockbum, and which were now to be used
against them, there was no lack : these con-
sisted of arblasts or lai-ge cross-bows; of baHst^
that discharged iron dai-ts; and of spring-
aids and cranes, that threw heavy masses of
stone or metal. All these, in fact, were of the
same nature as the sieging artillery of ancient
Rome long before she became full mistress of
the world — the resources of a people newly
emerged from bai-baiism, and beginning to
apply their fii-st lessons in science to the arts of
destruction or the necessities of defence. It
was fortunate for the Scots within the town of
Berwick that they had for theii' chief engineer
a foreigner, who possessed the skiU for directing
these machines of which they were stiU deficient:
this was John Crab, a Fleming, one of a nation
accustomed to contend with the ocean itself
when its waves were at the fiercest, and there-
fore, fi'om sheer necessity, the most skilful of
all people in withstanding the onsets of living
ranks, and making good the defence of mound
and rampart.^

Early on the morning of the day called St.
Mary's Eve the English advanced to the assault
in separate divisions, each provided with scaling-
ladders to mount the walls, and pickaxes to
undermine them ; with scaffolds and coverings
for shelter, and slings and arrows for annoyance;
and each division having its separate portion of
the wall as its place of onset. Against this
multiplied attack the Steward divided his
gaiTison into troops that were st<ationed over
the assailed points of the wall, while at the head
of a chosen band he kept moving over the whole
circuit, cheering the soldiers, and bringing aid
where it was most needed. The trumpets
sounded and the assault commenced ; scaUng-
laddei-s were planted and thrown down; and
while the stones and aiTows of the assailants
swept the top of the wall, the defender could
also be reached by the spear-points of those be-
low. The desperate onset was met by a resist-
ance as stubborn, and the struggle was continued
with equal fortune tiU noon, when the danger
of the Scots was deepened by the approach of
the English ships, that sailed up the river with
the rise of the tide. One of these ships that

* Barbour, L xvij.

A.D. 1318-1326.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

255

had been prepared for the purpose, wa-s drawn
up close to the town ; and from its rigging, to
which a drawbridge was attached, the soldiers
of the armament were to descend upon the
wall. The device was well planned, but it
proved abortive ; for the luckless vessel struck
upon a bank, and when the tide had left it the
townsmen set it on fire. Disheartened by this
faikrre and their loss of men, the assailants by
land sounded the retreat, and withdrew from
the well-defended wall. But it was only for a
new assault both by land and sea of a still more
formidable character ; and to prepare for this
five days of peaceful interval occurred, during
which nothing was heard among the besiegers
and besieged but the din of the a.\e, the
hammer, and the saw, the one party construct-
ing means of annoyance, and the other of re-
sistance.

As it was found that Berwick could not easily
be stormed, the English now resolved to attempt
its capture by undermining the walls ; and a
formidable machine had been framed, roofed
with strong timbei-s covered with hides, under
which a large baud of armed soldiers and
minera could .safely approach the ramparts.
This engine, from its shape, was c;dled a sow.
Still further, also, to ensure its efficiency, several
movable scaffolds were constructed of gi-eater
height than the walls, from which drawbridges
could be let down upon the parapets, and their
defenders encountered hand to hand by the
soldiei-s who manned the scaffolds. An equally
formidable sea-attack was to be made at the
same time ; and to make it more successful than
the former one, several ships were prepared as
the other had been : the boat of each vessel
being filled w-ith armed men, was to be drawn
lialf-mast high, until it was upon a level with
tlie top of the wall ; while the round tops of
the m:»sts were to be filled witli archers, whose
discharges would clear the way for the assault
of their comrades from the boats below. These
were terrible means of attack ; but Crab had
not been idle, and to match the sow he had
buOt a crane, so called also from its shape, hav-
ing a long neck bent backward, like that of a
crane or stork. It appeare to have been mainly
a Roman catapult that moved on wheels, and
discliarged huge stones with great force and
accuracy. Besides this engine. Crab had cjiused
strong chains and hooks to be made for catching
and holding fast the sow and its attendant
scaffolds when they reached the walls ; and large
store of faggots made of dry branches inter-
mixed with tlax and tow soaked with jntch and
sulphur and rolled into bundles ;i.s large as
casks, to set fire to the English engines :\s soon
as they were grappled and secured. He had

also caused several new springalds to be con-
structed, that shot large heavy aiTows winged
with copper. In the last assault an English
engineer had been taken prisoner, and he was
now unwillingly compelled to become the assist-
ant of C!rab in defending Berwick against his
own countrymen.'

All being in readiness, the English commenced
a fresh onset on the 13th of September. They
filled up the ditch, as in the former attack, with
fascines, and advanced to the walls, which they
attempted to win by escalade; but the most
forward of the assailants were beaten off, or
crushed by large stones which the defenders
discharged from their engines. Baffled in this
storming attempt, the Eugbsh had then recourse
to undermining ; and about noon the formid-
able sow, in which they confidently trusted, was
set in action, and moved towards the waUs with
a numerous mining party sheltered under its
strong and ample covering. At its dreaded
advance the Scots made every preparation to
meet it ; and not relying wholly upon their own
skill, they had recourse to that of the Eugli-sh
engineer whom they had lately captured. He
was taken from prison to the wall, where the
crane was planted, and ordered to do his utmost
to destroy the sow, on pain of instant death.
With trembling hands he wound up the machine,
took aim, and touched the spring ; but the huge
stone which it discharged went beyond the
mark. He once more bent and discharged the
crane; but in this case the stone fell short.
Furious at these failures, more especially as the
sow was triumphantly advancing, and had near-
ly reached the wall where it would have been
safe from such attacks, the Scots renewed their
threats, and the engineer prepared for a third
and final trial. He wound up the engine to its
utmost force and took a steady deadly aim ;
the huge stone flew upward, while nothing was
heard but its boom as it ascended, watched by
the breathless onlookers, and in coming down
it fell so direct and true upon the back of the
advancing sow that a tremendous crash pro-
claimed the demolition of its roof, and the use-
lessness of its protection. A roar of triumph
burst from the Scots, followed by peals of
laughter, when they saw the miners and armed
men scampering on all sides from under the
niin, and "The English sow has farrowed her
pigs ! " was their derisive cry. The hooks and
chains were thrown out to make it fast, and
the burning faggots soon leduced it to ashes.
Wliile thus it fared with the laud att;ick, that
by sea was not more fortunate. Aided by tlie
tide the English sliips advanced to the to«u

> Barbour, xtU.

256

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1318-1326.

with their boats and drawbridges in readiness,
but against these assailants the Soots directed a
second crane which they had prepared and kept
in readiness. This they plied with such efl'ect
that a stone hit the foremost vessel and swept
off a number of her crew, while the other ships,
dismayed at this reception, were fain to sheer
off. In spite of these mischances the English
continued to ])ress onward to the walls, which
they thought to win by main force, though
their science had failed; while the Scots con-
tinued their defence so stubbornly, that out of
the hundred chosen men who attended the
Steward in his rounds to the different places of
attack, only one was at last left uuwounded.
Even the women and boys of the town were
not idle ; for during the whole conflict they
gathered up the stones and arrows in the streets,
which had been shot by the English, and carried
them as supplies to their own men upon the
walls. Barbour adds, that none of these were
slain, and he attributes their safety to the
miraculous working of Providence. Towards
evening the English made a last attempt upon
the Marygate, broke through the barrier that
defended it, and after demolishing the draw-
bridge attempted to burn down the gate. On
the alarm being carried to the Steward he
gathered a reserve of soldiers that were still in
the castle, and ordering the gate to be thrown
open he made such a sudden and vigoi'ous sally
upon the assaDants that they were beaten back
with great loss. This was the last attempt of
a desperate struggle that had continued from
morning till evening, and having utterly failed
at every point the English forces reluctantly
retired.

During this period Bruce had not been un-
mindful of the brave garrison of Berwick and
his gallant son-in-law; but finding the English
army too numerous and strongly intrenched to
risk a battle for the relief of the town, he re-
solved to draw them off to the defence of their
own country by an invasion of England. This
expedition he intrusted to the Earl of Moray
and Sir James Douglas, who, at the head of
15,000 men, crossed the Border and advanced
into Yorkshire. As the Queen of England was
at this time residing in the city of York while
her husband was employed before Berwick, a
part of the plan of the Scottish leaders was to
capture her by surprise, in which case her
husband might have been compelled to more
reasonable terms of peace than he had hitherto
been willing to accord. It would have been
well for him if they had succeeded — better still
if they had kept her in perpetual duresse ; but
this "she-woK of France" had probably been
made aware of their design, for she hastily re-

tired inland to a place of greater security.
Thus disappointed of their prey, Eandolph and
Douglas held onward in a course of wild de-
vastation, in which Ripon, Wetherby, and Myt-
ton were successively visited and plundered.
To check this havoc the Archbishop of York
collected 20,000 men of all professions, few of
whom were soldiers, and with these he marched
towards Mytton near the river Swale, where
the Scots were encamped. But his miscella-
neous and undisciplined host was ill fitted to
encounter their veteran opponents ; for even at
the approach of the Scots they wavered, and at
the first charge they were broken and scattered.
4000 English were slain in this inglorious en-
counter, many were drowned in the Swale ; and
among the dead were 300 priests, who had
covered their shaven crowns with steel helmets.
This circumstance made the battle be termed
in savage pleasantry by the Scots the " Chapter
of Mytton."!

This inroad, as had been expected by the
Scottish king, broke up the leaguer of Berwick.
As soon as tidings of the archbishop's defeat
reached the English camp, Edward II. held a
council of war, at which many of the barons
whose estates were in the north of England and
near the seat of war expressed their purpose to
depart for the defence of their own homes ; and
in this they were encouraged by the Earl of
Lancaster, who soon after retired in disgust with
aU his forces, which constituted a third part of
the army. Edward, thus deserted, saw that the
prosecution of the siege was hopeless; but, eager
to signalize his retreat, he marched southwards
in the hope of encountering the Scots on their
return. But Douglas and Eandolph, having
effected their purpose as well as secm'ed much
booty and many prisoners, eluded tlie meeting,
and returned unmolested to Scotland. In this
expedition, besides their victory on the Swale
they had inflicted terrible loss on the enemy:
eighty-four towns and villages were burned and
plundered, and before it could recover, the West
Riding of Yorkshire had to be exempted from
the usual taxations. This gallant defence of a
place so important to the Scots as Berwick was
doubly gratifying to Bruce, as it had been
effected by his son-in-law. As the walls of the
town were so low that in future wai's they
would be constantly exposed to the risk of
escalade, he gave orders that they should be
raised ten feet higher all round.-

The time now appeared propitious for the
establishment of an honourable peace to which
the heart of the Scottish king was so earnestly

' Walsinghani, 112 ; Barbour ; Fordun.
' Walsmgham ; Barbour ; J. de Trokelowe.

A.D. 1318-1326.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

257

inclined, and to that effect he sent commis-
sioners to Newcastle to negotiate with those
appointed on the part of England. Nothing
more, however, than a two years' truce could
be settled, which was to commence at Christmas,
1319, and during its continuance all intercourse
between the two nations was strictly prohibited.'
It was no doubt found that such intercourse
after the recent injirries on either side would
inevitably lead to quarrel and conflict, and mar
all hopes of a lasting peace, to which the truce
was intended only as a preparative. Edward II.
had now lowered his tone ; for, in announcing
to the pope the conditions of the truce, he no
longer termed the Scots rebels but enemies.-
The next attempt of Bruce was to reconcile
himself to the church, a step that was necessary
on account of the hostility of the pontiff, which
still continued unmitigated : in fact, b}' the
ordei's of the pope the sentence of excom-
munication was to be repeated eveiy Sunday
and festival-day against the King of Scotland
and all his adherents by the Archbishop of
York and the Bishops of London and Carlisle.
To effect this reconciliation the Scottish parlia-
ment was assembled at Arbroath ; and the de-
fence wliich they drew up of their proceedings
in the war with England was characterized by
that manlj' uncompromising independence which
had now become a striking characteristic of the
Scots. To vindicate their rights as a free and
independent nation they went back to the
earliest days of the Scots — to their emigi-ation
from Egypt to Spain, and from Spain to Ireland
and Scotland — an origin as good, and as de-
voutly believed in by the few readers of the
age, as that which derived the English nation
from Brute and his redoubtable Trojans. They
mentioned the hundred and thirteen kings, from
the accession of Fergus I., who had reigned over
Scotland; its final convereion to Christianity by
St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter ; and the
privileges which the Scots had enjoyed from
their spiritual father, the pope, as the flock of
the brother of St. Peter. Thus they had con-
tinued from the earliest periods until Edwaril I.,
the father of the present King of England, under
the disguise of a friend and ally, had invaded
them with fraud and violence, and had cruelly
opjnessed them and bereaved them of their
freedom, until their present valiant king, Robert
Bruce, under the help of God, had arisen like a
seconil Joshua or Judas Maccabteus to deliver
thera from bondage. His ;ilso was the right of
ilescent as well as of tlieir own choice, and to him
they would adhere as theii" king in the defence
of their rights and liberties. But bound though

> Fad. Ang. iiL

■ feed At}g.

they thus were to him, should he desert their
cause, or endeavour to reduce tliem to the do-
minion of England, they added that even him,
too, they would drive from the throne, elect
another king, and not submit to England as
long as a hundred of them remained alive.
Finally, assuming a still bolder strain, in con-
sequence of the pope's partiality for England,
they declared, that if he persevered in thus
favouring the designs of their enemies they
would " hold him guilty in the sight of the
Almighty of the loss of lives, perdition of souls,
and all the other miserable consequences that
might ensue from the continuance of this war
between the two nations." This singular cartel
of admonition and defiance was dated the 6th
of April, 1320, and was subscribed by eight
earls and thirty-one barons in the name of the
whole Scottish community. On being sent to
Rome it was speedily seen by the pontiff that
such a national manifesto was not to be idly
thrown aside. He therefore became an equal
mediator between the two kingdoms, but with
little effect, for Edwai-d would not yet succumb
to the Scottish demand of independence, while
a civO insurrection in England inspired Bruce
with the hope that a more favourable oppor-
tunity for an honourable peace would yet occur,
which the course of events was likely to acceler-
ate. This English insurrection was headed by
the Earl of Lancaster, with whom he was in
close communication.^

But while the King of Scots was thus weaken-
ing the power of Edward II. by stirring up his
own nobles against him, the latter was retaliat-
ing in kind by a conspiracy among certain Scot-
tish baions which had the dethronement and
death of Bruce for its object. At the head of
this dark plot, which came and passed like a
honid dream, and the particulars of which are
briefly and confusedly narrated, was William
de Soulis, the seneschal of Scotland, and grand-
son of Nicholas de Soulis, the competitor for
the crown, but whose claims had been set aside
as derived from an illegitimate source. It is
supposed that Lord WUliam still continued to
nourish those dreams of ambition which his
royid descent would have fully warranted but
for the cross-bar that marred it, and that in the
King of England he found a ready encourager
and supporter. But in Sir- David de Brechin,
the nephew of Bruce, Lonl Soulis obtained a
still more effectual accomplice; and if De Brechin
was not absolutely participant in the design of
destroying his uncle, he w.is at Ie;u5t guilty of
concealing the cons])iracy and allowing it to go
on unchecked. In the same foul design several

' ForduQ ; Fad. Atig. ; Audersoa's Difiomala Scotia.

258

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

others were also implicated, among whom were
five knights and three esquires, whose names
have been handed down to us in the brief notice
of their trial. This dangerous plot was at last
betrayed by the Countess of Strathern, who was
privy to it, and the conspirators, with their for-
midable train of 360 squires, were suddenly
arrested at Berwick, and arraigned before the
parliament held at Scone in the beginning of
August, 1320. The particulai-s of the trial
having been destroyed, we only know the result.
Lord de Soulis and the Countess of Strathern
were convicted upon then- own confession and
sentenced to imprisonment for life ; Sir Gilbert
de Malherbe and Sir John Logie, knights, and
Richard Brown, an esquire, were executed as
traitore. But the fate of Sir David de Brechin,
who also suffered capital punishment, occasioned
much lamentation among the people, for he was
young and brave, and had fought against the
infidels; but while the popular voices condemned
the severity of his uncle, and lamented their
young favourite as the martyr of an unjust sen-
tence, they were little aware how fully his doom
had been merited. Although he had been par-
doned for fighting in the ranks of England lie
had connived at the conspiracy by which his
king and uncle was to be murdered, and the
established dynasty subverted in favour of a
pretender. This meeting at Scone was long
after remembered in Scotland under the name
of the " Black Parliament." '

The fate of these Scottish conspiratore, whom
Edward was so ready to suppw-t, was but a jire-
lude to that which awaited those English nobles
who were enlisted in the behalf of Bruce. Dis-
gusted with the inglorious reign of their sove-
reign, and his .shameful attachment to unworthy
favourites, the Earls of Lancaster and Hertford
and their associates longed for deliverance, even
though it should come from Scotland; and with
this view had entered into a treaty with Bruce,
by which their rising in open rebellion was to
be seconded by a Scottish invasion. In the
event of their success they agreed to use their
best efforts to procure a peace for the Scots ujjon
their own terms, and establish the family of
Bruce upon the Scottish throne. But Edward
was made aware of this negotiation, and roused
into unwonted activity he took the field, and
pressed the party of Lancaster so vigorously
that they were defeated before their allies could
come to tlieir aid. The earl fled northward with
Ills broken forces, hoping to shelter himself in
Scotland and renew the war, but was met and
defeated near- Bossaugh-bridge by Sir Andrew
Hartcla, warden of Carlisle, and Sir Simon

1 Fordim, 1. xiii. c. 1 ; Barbour, xiz.

[a.d. 1318-1326.

Ward, sheriff" of Yorkshire. Thus the conspiracy
was shattered at a stroke: the Earl of Hertford
fell in the conflict, and Lancaster, who sm-ren-
dered himself, was forthwith tried and beheaded.

This single instance of success so highly elated
the weak mind of the English king that he
thought the conquest of Scotland would be an
easy and certain achievement. He accordingly
wrote a vainglorious letter to the pope, request-
ing him to give himself no further trouble about
peace or truce between the two kingdoms, as
he was resolved to subdue the Scots by force of
arms ; all that he now desii'ed was that the pon-
tiff' should repeat his spii'itual sentences against
these obdurate rebels, so that their resistance
should be without excuse.- He then issued
orders to the holders of the crown for a military
muster; but as the late Eail of Lancaster had
been not only a favourite among the nobles, but
also the idol of the people, who after his death
regarded him as a saint, the royal commands
were met by no correspondent alacrity. But it
was very different with the Scots, to whom an
English invasion had now become a safe and
profitable adventure ; and under the command
of Randolph they broke through the western
marches, extended their havoc over Cumberland
and Westmoreland into Lancashire, and re-
tui'ued laden with spoil. A second expedition,
conducted by Bruce himself, speedily followed,
in which Lancashire wa-s so effectually desolated
that all the gi-owing crops and everything that
could not be carried off were laid waste and
destroyed. For twenty-four days this destruc-
tive visit continued, during which the Scots
appear to have met with no resistance, and on
their return to Scotland they encamped five
days in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, thus
defying the English to battle, a challenge which,
however, was not answered. They continued
their homeward march unchecked, and with a
long train of wagons laden with church plate,
ornaments of gold and silver, and other valu-
ables, and followed by droves of sheep and herds
of oxen which they had collected at pleasm-e.^

While these events were transacted four
months had elapsed since the summons of Ed-
ward II. to his military vassals without an
English army appeai'ing in the field. But such
intolerable insults were to be endured no longer;
and when the king repeated his order the people
armed with such alacrity that he was soon at
the head of 100,000 men. He was resolved with
this overwhelming force to bring the issue to
a decisive battle — a second Bannockburn, in
which the blunders of the first should be fully
repaired and its result gloriously reversed. But

3 Fotd. Ang. iii. 914. > Knygbton, 2612 ; Fordun, xiii. 4.

A.D. 1318-1326.] ROBERT BRUCE.

on the other hand Bruce had no such motives
to abide the trial as formerly, for Scotland was
already free and his own authority recognized
over the whole kingdom, so that he could fight
or abstain as best suited his own convenience.
Wisely resolving, therefore, not to hazard what
he had already won, and against such danger-
ous odds, he adopted the plan of a defensive
warfare by starving the English in their ad-
vance, and harassing them in their compelled
retreat. It was the system of Wallace — the
true defence of Scotland. All the cattle of the
Mei-se, Teviotdale, and the Lothians were ac-
cordingly removed, as likewise all the provi-
sions and every article of value, so that when
the English army advanced from Newcastle
into Scotland they found no enemy to encoimter
but famine, which they wisely dreaded more
than they did the Scots. So thorough, indeed,
had been the clearance that the English found
nothing but a lame bull at Tranent, in East
Lothian, which the Scots had been unable to
drive away. "Is this all ye have brought?"
said Earl Warenne to his hungry followers
when they returned from foraging with this
trophy of their success ; " I never saw beef cost
so much." Wlien the English reached Edin-
burgh their provisions were exhausted, and here
they halted three days expecting the arrival of
their fleet with supplies; but theii- ships had
been detained by contrary winds, and after
several soldiers had died of hunger the army
was compelled to retrace its steps. They plun-
dered the abbey of Holyrood at their departure,
and afterwards the abbeys of Melrose and Diy-
burgh in their retreat, venting their rage by slay-
ing tlie prior of Melrose and a few old monks
who were too frail to take to flight, and carry-
ing off a pyx from the altar after they had
contemptuously thrown away the host.' To
this narrow compass were the exploits of such
an army reduced by the wise precautions of
their opponent ! On reaching their own border,
which they entered like fugitives, the starved
soldiers dispeised themselves in quest of food,
and ate so voraciously that neai-ly half the
army, according to one English historian, but
16,000 men according to the more probable
account of another, died of repletion.''^

With this disgraceful campaign the misfor-
tunes of Edward were not to terminate ; for
scarcely had he issued his commands for the
defence of the Bordei-s when Bruce had crossed
them and laid siege to the castle of Norham.
Learning that the English king had collected
the remains of his amiy and was securely re-
posing in the abliey of Biland, near Malton, in

259

> Scotichron. I xiii. c. 4. ' Walsiugham ; KnygbtoD.

Yorkshii-e, Bruce raised the siege and hastily
advanced to Biland, hoping to surprise and
capture his enemy; but this chance was lost
owing, it is sujjposed, to a warning which Ed-
ward had previously received. The plan of
surprisal was exchanged for one of open battle,
although in this case every advantage was on
the side of the English, for they were not only
still very numerous, but occupied a strong posi-
tion on the ridge of a hill that was so rockj-
and steep as to be assailable only by one narrow
pass. This pass the gallant Douglas undertook
to force; and his generous rival, the Earl of
Moray, on hearing this, offered himself as a
volunteer in the enterprise, and with four
squires ranked himself under the Douglas ban-
ner. The pass was assailed by the noble pair
and theii' followere, but defended with equal
gallantry by Sir Thomas L^ghtred and Sir
Ralph Cobham. The struggle of the Scots to
win the pass was desperate; but the steep
ascent and the showers of missUes that encoun-
tered them at every step inflicted heavy loss
upon the party, and increased their chance of
faOure. It was then that Bnice had lecourse
to that mountain war-fare which he had prac-
tised so successfully upon the Lord of Lorn
when he defeated him among his fastnesses ;
and selecting the men of Argyle and the Isles,
to whom such difiicidties were of little account,
he ordered them to climb the steep ridge at a
distance from the battle and f;dl upon the Eng-
lish flank. This skUful plan was eft'ectually
executed, and the enemy, thus unexpectedly
assailed, were driven from their defences with
great slaughter, while Douglas and Randolph
quickly reached the summit. As for Edward,
on finding himself so suddenly defeated he fled
to Bridlington, after losing his gi'eat seal, as he
had done at Bannockburn, in the tumult, and
leaving all his baggage and treasure to the Scots,
his flight in the meantime being accelerated by
the Steward of Scotland, who pursued him at
the head of 500 hoi-se. Among the prisoneiu
who fell into tlie hands of the Scots by tliis
victory were John de Bretague, Earl of Rich-
mond, and Henry de SuUy, grand butler of the
King of France. Richmond had been in tlie
habit of speaking despitefidly and slanderously
of Bruce, and now that he was a captive Iiis
season of chastisement had arrived ; for the
Scottish king, after rebuking him shai-ply for
his offences, imposed upon him such a heavy
ransom that some years appear to have elajwed
before it could be raised. The treatment of
Sully and his companions was very diflerent.
" I know," s,'iid Bruce, " that you fought to
prove yourselves valiant knights in a strange
land, and not from hatred to me;" and with

260

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

that he dismissed them not only free of ransom
but enriched with presents. After their suc-
cess the Scottish ai'my extended their ravages
through Yorkshire and almost to the banks of
the Humber, imposing heavy contributions upon
the towns and monasteries that were spared
from destruction. They returned to Scotland,
as was now usual after such expeditions, with
a gi'eat number of prisoners, and em-iched with
cattle and other spoil.^

The discontent of the English nobles with
their king still continued, for Edward pereisted
in bestowing upon the worthless De Spencer the
same inordinate attachment and extravagant
gifts and privileges which he had heaped upon
Gaveston. The chief of these malcontents was
Sir Andrew Hartcla, who only the year previous
had intercepted and defeated the Earl of Lan-
caster while he was upon his retreat to Scotland.
For this good service Hartcla was made Earl of
Carlisle; but no sooner had he reached this ele-
vation than he appears to have assumed the place
of the fallen Lancaster by organizing a conspi-
racy of the English nobles against then- sovereign
and opening a communication with the King
of Scots. This plot, however, was detected at
the commencement of 1323, and Hartcla was
arrested and tried for treason. It was proved
against him that he had had an interview with
Robert Bruce, that he had bound himself by
writing and oath to maintain the latter and his
heirs in the right and possession of the entire
kingdom of Scotland, and that the king and
earl had mutually agreed that each should select
six persons for the estabhshment of peace and
regulation of affairs between the two kingdoms.
It was also proved that Hartcla had pledged
himself to resist all who might oppose the exe-
cution of this engagement, and had induced
others to swear to its observance. He was sen-
tenced to die the death of a traitor with all its
revolting circumstances, which were minutely
fulfilled. He was degi-aded from his high rank
by having his sword plucked from his side and
his gilded spm-s hacked from his heels by the
cleaver of the executioner. He was beheaded ;
his heart, bowels, and entrails were torn out and
burned, and their ashes thrown to the winds,
that they might engender no further conspira-
cies ; and his head was set upon London Bridge,
and his four quarteis exposed at Carlisle, New-
castle, York, and Salisbury.-

This mysterious plot, many of the pai'ticulars
of which were not published, appeara to have
alarmed the King of England, and made him
think of a peace with Scotland in good eai-nest.

I Barbour ; Fordun.

'Murimuth; Feed. Atig.; Walsinghi

[a.D. 1318-1326.

Not only some of his principal nobles, as the
trial had shown, were ready to effect this mea-
sure even though himself should be the sacrifice,
but the Bishops of Bath, Lincoln, and Wells
had participated in their purpose. To promote
these pacific intentions, also, Henry de Sully,
lately the prisoner and now the gi'ateful friend
of Bruce, added his kind offices. A thirteeu-
years' truce — as near an approach to a perpetual
peace as could yet exist between the two coun-
tries— was accordingly ratified, Edward on this
occasion recognizing Bruce as King of Scot-
land, an acknowledgment which he had hitherto
avoided. But even yet he could not refrain from
that mean intrigue and double-dealing which
form the chief weapons of the cowardly and the
weak ; and therefore while he was negotiating
with the Scottish king in apparent sincerity
and good faith, he was also tampering witli the
pope and instigating him to publish and ratify
in complete form the sentence of excommunica-
tion against Bruce and all his adherents. But
Scotland was once more resuming the ascend-
ency, and it did not suit the papal interests to
give mortal offence to such a kingdom, pro-
vided England could still be retained in its
allegiance. Happily also for the pontiff's per-
plexity the tidings of the ti-uce arrived at
Avignon, which furnished him with the means
of reply. It was his duty, he said, to promote,
and still more to enfoi'ce a truce, with which
the requests of the King of England were in-
compatible. Edward had also represented the
Scottish prelates as fomenters of the contumacy
and rebellion of the people, and had therefore
demanded that no Scotchman should be ad-
mitted to a bishopric in Scotland; but to this
the pope answered that such a measure would
wholly deprive the country of its spiritual pas-
tors, as by the truce just established no Eng-
lishman could receive admission into Scotland.^
Ever since the liberties of his country had
been recovered it had been the anxious desire
of Bruce to be reconciled to the church, and to
this the necessity was now added of counter-
acting the insidious designs of Edwai'd. A
fitting envoy was to be selected for the mission,
one who could not only confront the emissaries
of England, but outmanceuvre, confute, and per-
suade the whole conclave, and bring them to the
point of absolution. Had it been to carry a de-
fiance on the point of a spear to any court in
Christendom he had paladins enough ; but in
the present instance a very different messenger
was needed, and such a one as few of even the
most refined royal councils could furnish. For-
tunately, however, in his nephew, Thomas Ran-

^ Fad. Ang.

A.D. 1318-1326.] EOBEET BRUCE.

dolph, once the hot rash knight of Strathdon
and afterwards the prudent aud successful leader,
he had now the calm, lynx-eyed, persuasive
statesman, whom the Italian subtleties of eccles-
iastical diplomacy could neither overcome nor
elude. Moray accordingly repaired to Avignon
upon his mission; aud in the pope's own account
of the interWew, which he afterwai'ds wrote to
Edward II., we recognize in the hitherto rough
and belligerent Scot a very model and bemi ideal
for modern negotiators and peacemakers. Ran-
dolph commenced his approach as if the visit
had merely concerned his own affairs : he had
made a vow, he said, to repair as a crusader to
the Holy Lan'd, but could not accomplish it
without the papal sanction and dispensations,
which he had now come to Avignon for the pur-
pose of obtaining. To this the pope replied that
such sanction could not be given to an indivi-
dual merely, who could render no effectual ser-
vice there; and that au excommunicated pereon
could not further his own salvation by going to
Palestine ; but if he (Randolph) should do his
utmost to establish peace between England aud
Scotland his demand would iifterwards be fa-
vourably received. This was well, and the earl
advanced a step farther: the pope had talked of
peace, but a reconciliation with the chiu-ch must
precede it ; and Randolph, after stating that an
embassy would soon be sent fi'om Scotland to
Avignon for that purpose, he requested that his
holiness would gi-ant a safe-conduct for the
journey through the intermediate territories.
The proposal was cunningly made, for had the
pontiff complied it would have appeared as if
he had yielded to necessity, and solicited the
promised embassy from the excommimicated
parties like a suppliant instead of awaiting it
as an offended sovereign and judge. He there-
fore declared that he could not under existing
circumstances grant formal letters of safe-con-
duct; still, however, he would issue requisatorial
letters addressed to all the princes for the safe
conduct of the ambassadors through the different
territories on their way. In this manner, al-
though the home-thrust of the wily Scot was
parried, it grazed deeply and made his victory
more nigh and cei-tain. He then produced a
tem]3ting offer in a commission from his uncle:
it was to the effect that the King of Scots, hear-
ing of the crusade which the French king was
contemjilating, would willingly accompany it ;
and that if the expedition did not take place he
would, nevertheless, himself repair in pei-son to
the Holy Land, or send his nephew, the Earl of
Moray, in his stead. The promised aid of so
renowned .a warrior as Bruce in an object which
the church had so much at heai-t, and his offer
to serve under the banner of France, must have

261

been gratifying to the other, both as a pope and
a Frenchman, coming though it did from an
excommunicated man and unrecognized sove-
reign; and therefore he answered it gently, and
with a view to the removal of obstacles. It
would not be decent or expedient, he said, to
receive Robert Bruce as a crusader, either alone
or in union with the King of France, until he
should be reconciled to the church, and had con-
cluded a peace with England.

Having thus adroitly prepared the way for
the main object of his mission Randolph now
proceeded with caution to unfold it, not, how-
ever, in the form of an official condition, but as
au amicable suggestion of his own. The pontiff
was eager for peace and reconcihation both
spu-itual and political; he (Randolph) wasequaUy
anxious to secure it; but he felt that he could
not labour in the good work without the pope's
effectual aid. The difficulty that lay in the way
was the recognition of Bruce's royal title ; aud as
long as this was withheld it was certain, from
past experience, that every proposal of peace
would be rejected at the very outset and re-
turned unopened. He therefore hinted the
necessity of his uncle being addressed as king,
in which case the overtm-es to the necessary
reunion to the church and peace with England
would be certain to meet with instant and cor-
dial attention. The pope agreed in this opinion
and consented to give Brace the title of King.

It was by such smooth and winding paths
that Thomas Randolph reached the mark which
seemed otherwise unattainable, and procured
the desired concession from the highest as well
as most impracticable of all authorities. As for
the pope, he seemed to awaken from a dream.
Tlie hyperborean had thrown dust into his eyes
he knew not how, and infaUibility had been
pledged too far to reti-eat. It had bestowed
upon Bruce the title of king, and therefore a
king he must henceforth be, let his enemies say
what they might. But, woi-se than all, it had
conferred that sacred stamp upon an excom-
municated man, and that, too, not by its own
free grace, but the advice and instigation of
another. The bewildered pontiff wrote to the
King of England an account of the interview,
and his letter was a laboured apology. He said,
that though he had bestowed the title of King
on Robert Bruce, that would neither strengthen
his claim nor impair that of Edward. It had
been done for the sake of pe.ace and reconcilia-
tion, otherwise the bull for the att;iinment of
these import;vnt objects would never have been
received in Scotland. He therefore entreats his
beloved son of England patiently to suffer him
to write to the said Bruce under that kingly
designation. He added that Randolph had

262

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1326-1329.

made no other proposals subversive of the in-
terests of Edward or England, and that had he
done so, they would have been instantly re-
jected. But the English king, obtuse though he
was, met these arguments with a sharp reply.
He declared that the concession was dishonour-
able to the church, and injurious to the interests
of Englaud ; and that the Scots would think
that when the pope had given the title he meant
to acknowledge the right also. He also sarcas-
tically reminded his holiness of his own maxim
lately acted upon against Scotland itself when
it best suited his purposes — that no alteration
ought to be made in the condition of the parties
while the truce continued.'

After his success at Avignon Randolph in his
diplomatic capacity repaired to the court of
France, and i-enewed the ancient league between
that country and Scotland. During the course
of these negotiations a son was boim to the Scot-
tish king at Dunfermline, 5th March, 1323-24,
who afterwards reigned as David II. This
happy event diffused gladness over the whole
nation as the promise of a direct male succession
to the throne.

For some time after this period no event of
special importance occurred ; the truce between
the two kingdoms was observed on either side,
and negotiations were continued to convert it
into a lasting peace. The pi-oposals, however,
of the Scots to that effect, if truly related by an
English historian," were connected with condi-

tions of too exorbitant a nature to be complied
with; for they not only demanded a full re-
cognition of the independence of Scotland, and
the restoration of the chair of Scone upon which
their kings had been crowned, but the restitu-
tion of certain manora in England which had
belonged to the King of Scots, and the cession
of all the north of England as far as the city of
York. That no peace as yet was sincerely in-
tended on either side was evident, not only
from the character of these demands, but the
continued attempts of Edward to stir up the
papal com-t against Scotland, and have the ex-
communication against both king and people
continued. Another suspicious indication of his
hostUe purposes was his recalling of Edward
Baliol, the son and heir of John, from Nor-
mandy to the court of England. During the
progi-ess of these sUeut undercurrents Sir
Andrew Moray of BothweU, the companion in
arms and colleague of Sir William Wallace,
married Christina, the sister of King Robert,
and widow of Sir Christopher Seton. But
during the same year (1326) this accession to the
royal family of Scotland was more than counter-
balanced by the death of Bruce's son-in-law,
Walter the Steward. His career, though short,
had been so full of promise, especially in his
gallant defence of Berwick, that the highest
hopes were entertained of him, so that his pre-
mature death was bewailed as a national cala-
mity.

CHAPTER X.

EEIGN OF ROBERT BRUCE— CONCLUSION (1326-1329).

Deposition and death of Edward 11.— He is succeeded by Edward III.— Formidable muster of Edward III.

against Scotland — The Scots inv.ide England— Their array, equipments, and mode of subsistence — They
elude their enemies and avoid a battle— Distresses of the English army— Their fruitless attempts to bring
the Scots to action— Midnight attack of Douglas upon the EngUsh camp — The Scots effect their retreat
into Scotland — Singular condition of their encampment — Peace at last established between Scotland and
England — Its conditions— Discontent of the English with the treaty — Secluded Ufa of Bruce at Cardross—
His last Ulness — His dying charge to carry his heai't to Palestine — His instructions for the defence of
Scotland — His death — Discoveiy of his remains five centuries afterwards — Sir James Douglas departs with
the king's heart from Scotland — He lands in Spain to fight against the Moors — His death in battle — His
character.

The next event during the present period of
a public nature was of vital importance to Scot-
land; it was the deposition of Edward II.
from the throne he had disgi'aced ;ind the rule
which he was so unfit to exercise. His whole
reign had been a series of crimes, and of blundei's.

• Fxdera Anglia, iv. 28.

2 Malmsbury.

which, in a sovereign, are often of worse effect
than crimes. In his youth he had been an uuduti-
ful son and mean ignoble prince; in his more
matured age he had been an impolitic king and
cowardly and most inefficient warrior; and
every succeeding year only showed how unfit
he was to profit either by counsel or experience.
Above all, his excessive favouritism, first for

A.D. 1326-1329.]

EGBERT BRUCE.

263

Gaveston and afterwards for the Despencei-s;
liis oppressive imposts, which he squandered in
riotous living or lavished upon his minions;
and the disastrous termination of all his mili-
tary enterprises, so offensive to a brave high-
spirited people and so injurious to their past
renown, — had confirmed against him the hatred
and contempt both of lords and commons. His
cup was filled, and domestic hostility was the
last drop that made it overflow. His queen
raised the standard against him on her return
from France, to which she had retired disgusted
with the predominance of the Despencers ; her
train speedily swelled into an army; and Ed-
ward, universally abandoned, was deposed with-
out a dissentient voice, thrown into prison, and
finally murdered under such cii'cumstances of
atrocious cruelty that his feUest enemies were
compelled to pity him. Bruce, indeed, might
well have done so, as through these gross errore
of the English sovereign the victories of Edward
I. had been negatived, the liberties of Scotland
recovered, and the military reputation of its
people raised to the highest point of renown
among the chivalry of Europe. It was almost
certain that a woi-se or more luckless king could
scarcely be raised to the throne of England;
and that whatever niler might succeed, the
battle for Scottish freedom would have to be
renewed, and under different auspices. It is
possible that these contingencies occurred to
the reflective mind of Bruce when he resolved
to resume the war with England. Its new
king, Edward III., was but a stripling not more
than sixteen years old, and the land was under
the government of Queen Isabella and her
worthless paramour Mortimer, who was as ob-
noxious to the English nobility as the favourites
of the former king whom they had sent to the
gibbet. It was during such a tempting period
of minority and misrule that the Scottish libe-
rator resolved to crown the good work which he
had so successfully commenced by compelling
an equal and honourable peace for his country
at the sword-point. While the opportunity also
was so favourable for a fresh war with England,
Bruce had sufficient cause for aggi'ession in the
conduct of the English regency; for although
they avowed their desire for a permanent peace,
and ratified in the name of their young king
the truce that had been confirmed with his
father, their commissiouera were empowered to
treat only with the noblemen and leading per-
sonages of Scotland, as if its throne had been
still unoccupied and its king a mere pretender
or usurper.

In what manner the truce was broken by the
Scots and tiieir purposes of invasion announced
does not clearly appear, but it was of such an

unequivocal character that the English were
prompt in their preparations to meet it. An
order was Lssued in the name of Edward III.
for the whole military array of the kingdom to
join him at Newcastle on the 30th of May
(1327). The Cinque ports and maritime towns
were commanded to supply their naval contin-
gents, and an admiral was appointed whose
charge extended from the riverThames along the
whole south and west coast of England. Forty-
three cities and towns were ordered to send as
many men as they could, each pro^-ided with a
horse of thii-ty or forty shillings value; while
the northern counties were commanded to send
their whole array, both horse and foot, of ser-
viceable men between the ages of sixteen and
sixty, under the severest penalties for disobe-
dience. Even those who were too old to fight
were required to find a substitute. And for-
midable though these preparations were from
tlie plentiful resources of England, they were
still deemed not enough without foreign aid ;
and accordingly a large body of heavy-armed
Flemish cavalry was hu'ed at a gi'eat expense,
under the command of Count John of Hainault,
and another from various continental states,
under John of Quatremare. The whole army,
when assembled, amounted to 62,000 soldiers.
Of these 8000 were knights and squires, covered,
both men and hoi-se, with complete armour;
and 15/)00 were cavalry of lighter appoint-
ments; the infantry consisted of 15,000 ordi-
nary feudal foot soldiers and 24,000 archers.^

Against this immense force the Scots con-
tented themselves with mustering not more than
20,000 cavalry and 3000 knights and squires
who were completely armed. Not only in num-
bers but also in weapons and militaiy appoint-
ments this Scottish force was so gi-eatly inferior
to the English that their attempt to wage war
against such an enemy would have ajjpeared
the extremity of military rashness or desjiair.
But they crossed the Border full of confidence
and hope, and were the fii'st to open the cam-
ixaigu. It is fortunate that on this occasion
they had Froissart for their historian ; and his
description of their cquijjnients and mode of
warfare, while it fully justifies their audacity,
throws a most interesting light upon that
chivalrous and stirring period. None were on
foot but the camp-foUowere ; they brought no
carriages with them to encumber their maicli ;
they did not -even furnish themselves with the
ordinary pro\asions, lacking which no other
:u-my would have thought of moving; even
pots and pans for the purposes of cooking such
food as they might gather on the hostile soil

I Froissart: Feed. Ang. iv.

264

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1326-1329.

were left behind them as superfluities. Instead
of these each man carried under the flaps of his
.saddle a broad piece of metal, and behind the
saddle a little bag of oatmeal; and "when they
have eaten too much of the sodden flesh and
their stomach appears weak and emjity, they
place this plate over the fire, mix with water
their oatmeal, and when the plate is heated
they put a little of the paste upon it and make
a thin cake, like a cracknel or biscuit, which
they eat to warm their stomachs." ^ As for
sheep and hares, these were iu such plenty upon
the good pastures of England that we ai'e told
they collected more than they knew what to
do with ; and iu cooking the flesh they boiled
it in the animal's skin, which, on being flayed
off and suspended by four stakes over the fire,
with a little water in it, served the purposes of
a cauldron. The horses wliich these invaders
used were small light GaUoways, not intended
for the shock of battle, but for convenience and
rapidity of movement ; so hardy that they could
march from twenty to twenty-four mUes a day
without halting, and so abstemious that, hke
their ridere, they could find sustenance on any
common, and only needed to be turned loose at
the end of a day's journey. An army that could
thus move and subsist, if skilfully commanded,
must have been invincible in mountain or Bor-
der warfare; and altliough their antagonists
might have crushed them witli a single onset in
the open field, there was no likelihood that the
wary Scots woidd yield them an opportunity
which they could so easily avoid. Bruce, who
was now enfeebled by the disease of which he
finally died, was unable to accompany them ;
but his place was worthily supplied by his two
brave captains and pupils, Randolph and Sir
James Douglas, the first of whom was now
almost his equal in military skill and prudence,
and the latter in personal prowess and chival-
rous daring. Even the danger that might have
accrued from placing two rivals so eager for
renown and so emulous of each other's deeds iu
a common command, was not in this case to be
apprehended ; for there was the same agree-
ment between them as there is between the
head that plans the gallant deed and the right
arm that achieves it. Much, indeed, in the
liberation of Scotland was owing to this gener-
ous harmony of the noble pair, whose great
motive of action was to set then- country free,
and whose rivalry was mainly expressed by
mutual co-operation and aid.

The young King of England, fuU of warlike
ardour and impatient to signalize the com-
mencement of his reign by deeds of victory and

' Froisaart, book i

conquest, joined his army at York, and directed
its march to the Scottish border. But on reach-
ing Diu'ham he found that his nimble adver-
saries had anticipated his movements by cross-
ing the Tyne and commencing their wonted
ravages; and he was soon apprised of their
neighbourhood by wasted districts and bm-ning
villages. Guided by the numerous pillars of
smoke and the dismal light of the flames, the
English mai'ched in fighting order in quest of
their enemies for the purpose of giving them
battle; but although they saw abundance of
melancholy tokens to convince them that the
Scots were scarcely more than five mUes off,
they could neither reach them nor obtain cer-
tain knowledge of their whereabouts. Every-
thing, indeed, was now against the English:
their formidable but unwieldy array was ill-
fitted for marching and countermarching; and
although upon their own soil, they were stran-
gers to the wild mountains and dangerous de-
files of Northumberland, while the Scots moved
as lightly as the wind, and were as conversant
with the geography of these profitable districts
as with that of theh' own country. After three
days of fruitless search through a region of
smouldering fires and ashes the English, weary
with hunger, marching, and sleeplessness, re-
solved to cross the Tyne, and there await .the
Scottish army on its homeward return, when it
would be laden with plunder and least pre-
pared for resistance. Hoping thus to bring
all to the issue of battle, for which they were
so well prepared, they reached the river by a
hasty march at nightfall, and encamped on the
Scottish side of the banks. Eacli soldier, ac-
cording to ordera, had only brought with him
a single loaf, which was tied behind his saddle,
but it was so wetted with the sweat of his horse
as to be unfit to eat; the horses themselves,
after a ride of twenty mOes, had neither oats
nor any kind of forage; and while the rain
poured in torrents the army bivouacked u]wn
the cold wet ground without fires, without
provisions, and ignorant on account of the dark-
ness of what particular place they occupied.
Their only consolation was the hope that on the
morning their nimble adversai'ies would return
to Scotland, and thus fall into the trap that had
been laid for them. But at morning no Scots
appeared, and they felt that their only chance
was to continue iu their encampment until theii-
antagonists presented themselves of their own
accord. They had cut down the brushwood, of
which they made temporai-y huts; but from day
to day the heavy rain continued, fi-om which
they could find no shelter; they could obtain no
wood for firing but what was soaked and use-
less; all their saddles and hoi-se-girths were

A.D. 1326-1329.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

265

rotted, and the greater part of the cavah-y dis-
mounted. Provisions also were extremely
scjinty, as might be expected from a region
over which a Scottish anny had swept; and
although they sent out foraging parties in every
direction the food thus obtained was so scanty
that it only produced a general scramble fol-
lowed by fierce contention. Thus the English
and their foi-eign allies remained, says Froissait,
" for three days and thi-ee nights without bread,
wine, candle, oats, or any other forage: and they
were afterwai-ds for four days obliged to buy
badly-baked bread at the price of sixpence the
loaf, wliich was not worth more than a penny,
and a gallon of wine for six gi-oats scarcely
worth sixpence." After seven days of this self-
inflicted penance, during which no enemy ap-
peared, such a mutinous murmur arose in the
camp that Edward III. and his counseUoi-s
found it necessary to change their quai'tere and
adopt more active operations. An order was
issued for the whole army to be in readiness on
the following day to recross the river and go in
search of the invaders. A proclamation was
also made that whosoever should bring certain
intelligence of where the Scots were to the king
should have ^100 a year in land, and receive
knighthood from the hand of Edwai'd himself.
The English army repassed the Tyne, which
they did with considerable loss, as the watera
were swollen by the late rain, whOe fifteen or
sixteen knights and squires, allured by the late
proclamation, went ofi' in different diiections
over the country in quest of their ubiquitous and
invisible foes. One of these squires, whose name
was Thomas de Rokeby, retmned on the fourth
day, and at full gallop, with welcome tidings:
he had stumble<l upon the Scottish army only
a few miles distant, and been brought before
their chiefs, who had waited in order for battle
seven days while the English were encamped
on the opposite side of the Tyne. Thus each
army had been ignorant of the othei-'s locality,
although so nigh each other — a strange contrast,
if true, to the usual militai^' precautions adopted
in the warfare of every civilized country. They
now gladly learned from Eokeby himself of the
approach of the English army, and dismissed
him without ransom that he might inform his
king where they were to be found. Edward
was rejoiced at the report ; and, guided by the
now knighted Sir Tlioraas de Eokeby, he com-
menced his march and was soon in sight of the
Scots. But the spectacle brought him little
comfort, as they were so strongly jxisted that
they could not be assailed with Siifety, being
drawn up on the slope of a hill, with their flanks
defended by rugged rocks, having the rapid
river Wear in their front, the watere of which
VOL. I.

were swollen by the late rains and full of large
stones, while the ground beyond it, and nearest
the Scots, would give too little room to the Eng-
lish ranks even should they cross the river.
The English manceuvred in the hope of draw-
ing the enemy from then- strong position, and
approached so neai- that the knights of both
armies could read the cognizances of each other's
shields ; but the Scots remained as moveless as
the dark gray rocks by which their front and
flanks were protected. Edward then endea-
voured to tempt them into an open field by ar-
guments drawn from the book of chivali-y; and
he sent heralds with the offer of retuing back
on the morrow, so as to give them an oppor-
timity of crossing the river and forming in order
of battle on the open plain. But at this mes-
sage of the gallant young tyro the Scottish
veteran commanders only laughed. "Go and
tell your king," they answered, " that we will
not do what he requires of us. It is kno\vn to
him and his barons that we are in his kingdom,
and that we have buined and pillaged wherever
we have passed. If this displeases him, let him
come and amend it, for here we will tarry as
long as we list." Perceiving that they had wise
and wary foes to deal with, the English resolved
to starve them out by a blockade. They ac-
cordingly established themselves on the position
they ali'eady occupied, but in gi-eat discomfort,
having little food and no fuel, while the cavah-y
had neither htter nor forage for their horees,
nor even h;dters to secure them, so that they
were obliged to hold them by the bridles. On
seeing that the English had made a permanent
lodgment opposite their own encampment the
Scottish soldiei-s retired to theii- huts, after
placing strong guards on their advantageous
position ; and as if they had resolved that their
enemies should have no rest, even though theii-
bed was nothing but the cold,drenched, miry soil,
they made " about midnight such a bUistiug and
noise with their homs that it seemed as if all
the gi'eat devils from hell had come there." On
the following morning the jaded English arrayed
themselves for battle ; but still this relief was
denied them, for the Scots would not stir from
their defences. It seemeii hopeless also to starve
tliem out of their place of strength; for although
they had neither bread, wine, nor salt, the Scots
made light of these wants on account of the
cattle they hatl plundereil, and tlieir bags of
oatmeal. For three days the armies thus con-
fronted each other, the English only able to
reach their opponents by jKirties of skirmishers
that occasion;vlly crossed the river, but with
little or no advantage, while by night they
were kept awake and in constant alarm by the
hideous trumpeting of cows' horns that bel-

266

HISTORY OF SCOTLAJ^D.

[a.d. 1326-1329.

lowed from the opposite side. But on the
fourth morning, when they rose to resume their
weai-y leaguer, the Scottish encampment was
empty — its thousands had utterly disa2)peared
— but it was soon discovered that they had only
removed to a still stronger position a .short way
off, where their movements were concealed by
a wood upon the side of a mountain, while they
were still protected by the river in front. The
English army had no resom-ce but a correspon-
dent movement, and they marched accordingly
to a place called Stanhope Park opposite the
new Scottish encampment, with the Wear still
between them. They there drew up and offered
battle ; but the Scots, ;js before, would not quit
their impregnable encampment, while their ene-
mies saw that it would be too hazardous to cross
the river and attack them on their own ground.
WhOe the two armies thus contended in a
warfare of quick and sudden movements, in
which the English, though the stronger party,
had the worst of it, they soon also found them-
selves exposed to worse midnight reveilles than
those of the sleep-dispeUing horn-music. Sir
James Douglas, impatient for action, resolved
to vary the monotony of the campaign with one
of those daring exploits by which he had so often
paralysed his enemies and succeeded against
every obstacle — it was nothing less than to cap-
ture or slay the young King of England in the
midst of his embattled myriads. He knew also
that such a desperate deed might be successful,
as the English were now accustomed to midnight
alarms and were too weary to keep a careful
watch. Accordingly, on the first night of the
new encamping, having discovered a convenient
ford higher up the river, he crossed it with five
hundred horse,' and making a circuit by an un-
frequented path he came upon the rear of the
English army. Approaching theii' outposts and
pretending to be an English officer going the
usual rounds, while he exclaimed, "Ha, St.
George! have we no watch here?" he passed
onward unsuspected until he came near the
royal tent, when he suddenly sounded his ter-
rible onset, with the cry, "ADouglas! a Douglas!
English thieves, ye shall all die !" The guards
of the royal pavilion fought and fell in defence
of their master; the uproar rang through the
whole camp and brought the startled English
together in crowds ; but still shouting his war-
cry and spurring his horse through the throng,
Sir James reached the king's tent and cut
asunder several of the cords with his sword.
The future conqueror of France was almost

' Barbour. With only two hundred according to Froia-
sart. In a question of numbers on such a chivalrous occa-
sion the testimony of the Scottish poet is more likely to be
the correct one.

within reach of his blood-stained brand, and
might have there ended his career but for the
interposition of his faithful attendants and chap-
lain, who fell, while Edward liimself had time
to escape. Douglas then sounded his slughoni
to call his men together, and withdrew them in
safety with little loss, although 300 of the
enemy liad fallen in this singular camisade.
On retm-ning to the Scottish encampment Ran-
dolph inquired how he had fared, to whom he
briefly answered, "Sir, we have drawn blood."
It was the answer of disappointment. The re-
nown of such a gallant deed could not console
him for its failure.

On the day after this attack a Scottish knight
was taken prisoner and carried before Edward
and his lords, and on being questioned he con-
fessed that the whole Scottish ai'my had been
ordered to hold themselves in readiness that
night to foUow the banner of Douglas ; but on
being further interrogated he professed his
utter ignorance of the intentions of the Scottish
leaders. It was instantly concluded that the
success of the previous evening had emboldened
the Scots for a fresh trial, in which their whole
force would be employed instead of a band of
skirmishers. To pi-epare, accordingly, for this
midnight battle the English army at evening
was drawn up in three divisions, all on foot and
in fuU order for encounter ; strong guai-ds were
placed on their outposts and numerous fires
were lighted, that they might see the coming
of their assailants when they approached. But
in the opposite camp preparations of a different
nature were going on which these precautions
of the English only more effectually concealed.
Tlie Scots, indeed, lighted their watch-fires and
kept up their wonted serenade and shouting;
but these were only parting salutations to an
enemy whom they meant to disappoint. They
had inflicted fearful havoc on Northumberland ;
they had exhausted one of tlie best-appointed
ai-mies of England, and drained her treasury
for its support; and now, laden with spoil as
well as crowned with the distinction of having
baffled such a powerful enemy, they were re-
turning to their own country unharmed and
unchecked. It was for this movement that the
Douglas banner was to be unfurled. Their de-
parture was signalized by all that skill which
had marked their advance and their subsequent
movements. Rank after rank was withdrawn
without noise or observation. Behind was a
bog two miles in length which defended their
rear and could not be passed by the English
cavalry; but this they safely crossed with their
hoi-ses and booty on hurdles which tliey had
prepared for the purpose, of oziei-s and boughs
of trees, that were laid like bridges over the

A.D. 1326-1329.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

267

water-runs and taken up when the troops had
passed over the bog, that the English, if they
pursued, might not make use of them. A re-
treat like this from an army of thrice their
numbers, embattled within a few roods of them,
and holding them ;is it seemed at their mercy,
had all the honour and more than the usual
benefits of a signal victory.

Of this retreat in the meantime the English
were utterly ignorant, and during the whole
night they remained in arms and ready for the
expected onset, trusting to requite with one de-
structive blow the annoyance and di-sgrace of the
whole cam])aign. It was only when morning
was about to dawn that they learned from two
Scottish trumpeters whom their patrols had
taken prisoners that the whole army had de-
camped at midnight, and were already five
miles on their march homeward. But this tale
seemed too wonderful for belief; and fearing
that this might be a stratagem of their enemies
to allure them across the river, they remained in
their ranks until daylight, when they saw mth
astonishment that the late busy encampment
was once more a naked and silent hillside.
Even jet the Scots might be in ambush not far
off; and scouts were sent across the Wear, who
soon returned with tidings that their foes had
gone indeed. On exploring the Scottish camp
a strange spectacle was presented. More than
500 carcasses of large cattle were lying there
which the Scots had killed as too cumbrous for
their retreat and too good to be restored to their
owners ; 300 caldrons of ox-hides with the hair
outside, and hung over fires with water and
meat ready for boiling ; about 1000 wooden
spits with meat on them to be roasted; and
10,000 paire of old worn-out shoes made of un-
dressed leather. It was an inventory worthy of
a Hunnish or Tartar camp— the lai-der of one
of those armies that moved like a wind or a
locust-cloud, and laughed to scorn the cumbrous
preparations of civilized warfare either to resist
or pursue them. In addition to these relics the
acouts, as we are informed, found five English
prisoners stripped and tied to trees, some of
them with their legs broken, whom they untied
and dismissed.' When he saw that the enemj'

^ Froissart As they were .ill sent away, it is to be hoped
that the fractured legs were nothing worse than chafed by
a struggle to get free; and that the phrase of a "broken
shin," used by Shiikaperc in this sense, was also current
in the days of Froisaart. If the .Scots had wished elTec-
tually to prevent the escape of their prisoners and thus
secure their retreat without tidings being carried to the
enemy's camp, it is not to be supposed that they would
have lamed only two or three of the prisoners instead of
the whole party. This part of the narrative, which has
sometimes been (luoted as a proof of the savage spirit and
gratuitous cruelty of the Scots, is open to more than one
question of sceptical doubt and hesitation.

who had braved him with impunity during
eighteen days could be reached no longer, and
that his first campaign, which promised nothing
less than a fresh conquest of Scotland, had
ended not only in heavy loss but utter mockeiy,
the young English king burst into tears of rage
and shame. His only remedy was that which,
in modern times, is often found in a bulletin ;
and he accordingly announced to his parliament
that he had marched against the Scots with a
large army ; that he had inclosed and shut them
up as closely as possible at Stanhope Paik ; but
that they had stolen away by night like con-
quered fugitives, while several of them had
been slain in the pureuit.- He led back his
army to York, but in such evil plight that the
splendid chivalry of Hainault, Brabant, and
Flanders were reduced to march on foot, their
horees having died or become unserviceable,
whUe the English cjivali-y were in no better con-
dition. In the meantime the Scots continued
their homeward march in triumph, enriched
with plunder, and on their way they were met
by another Scottish army of 10,000 men coming
to their aid, under the command of the Earls of
March and Angus, bringing with them also a
plentiful convoy of provisions. The work upon
which they were sent being completed, the
united armies returned to Scotland on the 9th
of August (1327), where they were gladly wel-
comed by the king, who congratulated them on
having inflicted such damage upon the enemy
and suifered so little loss.^

It was now full time that the pride of Eng-
land should take counsel of her prudence. The
whole course of the late warfare had been a
series of losses and disasters to the English ;
and the last inroad had shown that, so far from
being able to reconquer Scotland, it would be
much if they could still retain unbroken the
integrity of their own kingdom. Their king also
was still an unexperienced minor held in thral-
dom by the queen-mother and her worthless
paramour Mortimer, who ruled everything and
maiTed what they ruled ; while, on the other
hand, Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas, by whom
Scotland had been raised fiom the dust to such
high pre-eminence, were incontestably the best
generals of the age, and as wise in counsel as
they were able and fortunate in battle. But
to relinquish the triumphs of Edward I., the
memory of which was only the more endeared
to tliem by their late reverses — to recognize the
Scots its their equals who had so lately been
their tributaries, and were now their rebellious
bondmen — this, the he;id and front of whatever
peaceful treaty would be proposed, the English

' Fadera Anglia, iv. 301. ' Barbour, b. xix.

268

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1326-1329.

were still unwilling to concede. To overcome
this reluctance Robert Bruce appointed a fresh
invasion of England; and as he enjoyed an
interval of relief from his deadly malady he
resolved to head it in ijereon. A very few
weeks, therefore, after the return of the last
expedition, it was repeated, but on this occasion
in gi-eater force than before, as every Scotsman
able to bear arms was em-olled for the enter-
prise. They entered England by the eastern
marches in tlu-ee divisions. One of these, under
the command of Bruce himself, laid siege to
the castle of Norham; the second, headed by
Douglas and Randolph, besieged the castle of
Alnwick ; while the third was commissioned to
lay waste the open coimtry of Northumberland.^
These formidable demonstrations had their full
effect. Tenders of peace were held out by Eng-
land herself, and commissioners were sent to
the Scottish camp to negotiate the terms, which,
when finally adjusted, were as full and ample
as the Scots themselves could expect. And first
of all was recognized the entire freedom and
independence of Scotland and the sovereignty
of its king, as a preliminai-y of treaty, in the
following words : —

" Edward by the grace of God King of Eng-
land, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitain,
&c. : Whereas the superiority over the kingdom
of Scotland, obtained by certain of our prede-
cessors and pertaining to us, hath occasioned
many bitter wars, to the gi-eat injury and afflic-
tion of both kingdoms of England and Scot-
land ; — Therefoi'e, by these our lettei-s patent,
we will and grant, for us, our heirs and suc-
cessor, by the common consent and assent of
the prelates, earls, barons, and commimity of
our kingdom, in our parliament assembled.
That the kingdom of Scotland, according to its
just boundaries, as these were in the reign of
the lately deceased Alexander of good memory,
shall remain free and entire for ever to the mag-
nificent Prince Robert, by the grace of God,
illustrious King of Scotland, our very dear
friend and confederate, and to his heira and
successors, without any subjection, servitude,
reclamation, or demand whatsoever; and we
hereby renounce and discharge aU right which
is or has been claimed by us or our ancestore in
the kingdom of Scotland, to the aforesaid king
and his heira and successors : And, for us, our
heirs and successors, we entirely and altogether
disclaim all obligations, conventions, and cove-
nants whatsoever, that may have been entered
into with our predecessors at any time relative
to the subjection of Scotland or its inhabitants,
by any of the kings or inhabitants whomsoever

' Fosdera; Barbour.

of the said kingdom of Scotland, whether clei-i-
cal or laical. And if any lettere, charters,
muniments, or instruments of any kind shall
be hereafter discovered, respecting the execu-
tion of any such obligations, covenants, and
conventions, we will that they shall be con-
sidered as broken, useless, void, nidi, and of no
effect, value, or avail whatever. And for the
full, peaceable, and faithful observance of all
and singular of these premises, in all time here-
after, we give full power and special mandate
by our lettei-s patent to our beloved and faith-
ful cousin, Henry de Percy, and to William de
Souch, or either of them, to swear upon our
soul to the performance hereof. Given at York
on the 1st of March, 1328."-

The other articles of this treaty of peace, so
honourable to Scotland, were the following : —
To confirm the unity between the two king-
doms, David, the only son and heir of Robert
Brace, was to espouse Joanna, the sister of tlie
King of England, to whom the Scottish king
was to assign a jointure of J2000 yearly in land
of that value ; and should the jirincess die be-
fore the marriage was accomplished. King Ed-
ward or his successor was to have the privilege
of providing another bride for David from the
blood royal of England, who should enjoy the
same dowry. The two kings, with their heirs
and successors, were to be good friends and
faithful allies, and each to assist the other, sav-
ing the alliance between the King of Scots and
the King of France; and, in the event of a war
against the English by Ireland, or against the
Scots by the Isle of Man or the other Scottish
islands, neither of these kings was to aid the
enemies of the other. All wi-itings, obligations,
instruments, and other muniments relative to
the subjection of the people or land of Scotland
to the King of England, which were annulled
and abrogated by the latter, and all other instru-
ments and privileges relative to the freedom of
Scotland, were to be faithfully delivered up to
the Scottish king as soon as they could be found.
The King of England also engaged to give faith-
ful aid in having the processes in the court of
Rome and elsewhere against the King of Scots,
his kingdom and subjects, clergy and laity, re-
called and annulled with all their consequences.
On the other hand, the King of Scotland, his
prelates and nobles, engaged to pay to the King
of England £20,000 sterling in three years at
three terms of payment at Tweedmouth; and in
case of failure, to submit themselves to the juris-
diction of the papal chamber, but no execution
to be issued until two months after each respec-

I

2 RjTuer's Fa-dera iu Ker's Life of Bruce, vol. ii. p. 446;
Fordun ; Tytler's Histoi-y of Scotland, vol. i. p. 363.

A. D. 1326-1329.] ROBERT BRUCE.

tive term of payment. It was finally agi-eed
that the laws of the marches should be faith-
fully observed on either side. Either because it
was considered to belong to the muniments that
were to be restoi-ed according to the treaty, or
by a separate clause which was not publicly
announced in England, it was agreed that the
sacred marble of Scone on which the kings of
Scotland had been crowned, but which Ed-
ward I. had can-ied away as the proudest trophy
of his conquest, w-as to be restored to its old
resting-place and home.*^

In thus manner the conquest of Scotland by
Edward I., the long war of thirty-two yeai's'
duration, and all the losses and sufferings it
entailed on England, had vanished like an air-
built city of ancient romance at the touch of the
enchanter's wand or the utterance of a few words
of conjuration. And what had been gained I
At first sight nothing, for the two kingdoms
were only replaced in their original condition,
but weakened and exhausted by the struggle.
But for the great result we must carry our eye
forwaid to future centuries, and mark how the
polity and the national character of Britain at
large were nui-sed and matured by this terrible
and seemingly unnatural conflict. Thus re-
garded these contentions of vainglory, and
ambition, and hate, which to a narrow misan-
thropy appear so contemptible and so unde-
serving of record, became of paramount import,
as the sources from which the two nations de-
rived their heroic love of independence and
tlieir energy and skill to maintain it. But the
men of that age were neither seere nor sages,
and therefore the English people at large were
indignant, and with some show of good reason,
at a peace which sui'rendered at once all their
|iast advantages as well as future hopes; and
while one party thought that the queen and
Mortimer had sacrificed the nation to retain
their own usurped dominion, others more ex-
travagantly alleged that they had been piu--
chased with Scottish gold. This feeling bi-oke
out into a dangerous riot in London when the
Scottish coronation stone was about to be re-
moved from Westminster for its transference to
Scone, and the popidace retained it by force. In
their regard for it as a token of conquest it is
evident that they had no fear of its prophetic
legend before their eyes, or that its original
owners should ever have rule in London. But
after-events consoled the Scots for its detention.
Even in Scotland, also, the people do not seem
to have been fully reconciled to the treaty, by
which their long career of victory was suddenly
arrested, and the rich resources of English plun-

269

' ParliamttUary Iiecord» qf SeoUa)ut, L 8S.

der protected from their aggressions ; and, in
derision of the maniage by which this concord
of the two nations was to be cemented, they dis-
tinguished the Princess Joanna by the nickname
of Make-peace. This royal lady, who was only
seven years old, attended by her mother, the
Earl of Mortimer, and the Bishop of Lincoln,
High-chancellor of England, arrived at Berwick,
where .she was received by her princely bride-
groom, as yet only in his fifth year ; and the
marriage was celebrated in the presence of Ran-
dolph and Douglas, the representatives of their
sovereign, on the 12th of July (1328), with great
magnificence, and amidst the congratulations of
both English and Scots. On this happy occa-
sion the bride had brought with her what was
of higher account than rich jewels and orna-
ments : these wei'e the Ragman Roll so degrad-
ing to Scotland, by which its nobles had signed
away the independence of the kingdom, and the
national muniments and records which Ed-
ward I. had carried with him to England, but
which were to be restored according to the terms
of the late treaty. Although now sore-sick, and
enfeebled with a malady that was soon to end
fatally. King Robert left his quiet seclusion at
Cardro.ss and repaired to Edinburgh, that he
might welcome his young daughter-in-law and
witness with his own eyes this promise of .last-
ing peace, of which the imion of these children
was the substantial symbol and type ; and hav-
ing contemplated this happy close of his suffer-
ings and toils with a gi-ateful nunc dimitlis he
returned to his home and his sick-bed, that he
might enter into his rest.

There is a melancholy but pleasing interest
in contemplating the last da3's of such a hero.
As yet only fifty-five yeai-s old, and possessed
originally of a frame of iron and a strength
surpassing that of the ordinary sous of men, the
privations and sufferings of his early career, and
the cares and anxieties which accomiianied even
his triumphs, had brought on premature old age,
as well as a fatal dise;ise, which his physicians,
who could neither understand nor cure it, were
pleased to call a leprosy. When he found liim-
self no longer fit for active life he committed the
management of affairs to Randolph and Douglas,
and retired to a humble dwelling at Cardross,
near Dumbarton, on the shore of the Firth of
Clyde, where he chiefly spent the last two yeare
of his life. Here, besides planning for his lieu-
tenants those warlike operations which he could
no longer superintend in pei-son, he devoted
himself to the peaceful pui-suits of fishing, boat-
building, and hawking. I2vcn the favourite
animal which foi-med the pet of his old age was
in keeping with his character, for it was a tame
liou; and his care in maiutainiiig the royal beast

270

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

is attested by the expense of its provender, re-
corded in his chamberlain's rolls. Mindful, also,
of his days of wandering and hunger, he was the
bountiful friend of the poor, as is testified not
only by the charities he founded, but his numer-
ous doles of provisions to the poor, who were
regularly supplied at his gate. As his simple
cottage or fortalice, which chroniclers have ag-
grandized into the Palace of Cardross, because
it was a royal residence, must have been a fre-
quent place of resort to the friends of his youth,
as well as of pilgrimage to the distant worship-
pers of his renown and worth, the oiien-hearted
hospitality of his home is also attested by the
copious stores of provisions which are noted
down in the same household register. Diu-ing
the last half year of his life he was a widower,
his queen Elizabeth having died while he was
employed in the siege of Norham; and this be-
reavement, combined with the thought that his
son and heir David was still a child, and that
bis grandson Robert, who was next in succes-
sion, was a boy only ten years old, must have
made the peace with England doubly welcome
to his royal and paternal heart.

And then came the closing sunset of this day
of brightness which had thus lingered upon the
mountain tops of the laud it had gladdened, and
after which there was to be a night of such dark-
ness, and sorrow, and disaster. Robert Bruce
was dying, and his iron-nerved warriore were
like children weeping around a father's death-
bed. But who could venture upon its descrip-
tion after the living pictures of Barbour and
Froissart ? Even for the hundredth time that
of the latter, who writes like an eye-witness
with his tears but newly dried, will bear a full
quotation: —

" King Robert of Scotland, who had been a
very valiant knight, waxed old, and was at-
tacked with so severe an illness, that he saw his
end was approaching; he therefore summoned
together all the chiefs and barons in whom he
most confided, and after having told them that
he should never get the better of this sickness,
he commanded them, upon their honour and
loyalty, to keep and preserve faithfully and en-
tire the kingdom for his son David, and obey
him and crown him king when he was of a
proper age.

"He after that called to him the gallant lord
James Douglas, and said to him in presence of
the others, ' My dear friend. Lord James Dou-
glas, you know that I have had much to do, and
have suffered many troubles during the time
I have lived, to support the rights of my crown:
at the time that I was most occupied, I made a
vow, the non-accomplishment of which gives me
much uneasiness — I vowed, that if I could finish

[a.d. 1326-1329.

my wars in such a manner, that I might have
quiet to govern peaceably, I would go and make
war against the enemies of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the adversaries of the Christian faith.
To this point my heart ha.s always leaned ; but
our Lord was not wUliug, and gave me so much
to do in my lifetime, and this last expedition
has lasted so long, followed by this heavy sick-
ness, that since my body cannot accomplish
what my heart wishes, I will send my heart in
the stead of my body to fulfil my vow. And, as
I do not know any one knight so gallant or en-
terprising, or better formed to complete my in-
tentions than yourself, I beg and entreat of you,
dear and special friend, as earnestly as I can,
that you woidd have the goodness to undertake
this expedition for the love of me, and to acquit
my soul to our Lord and Saviour ; for I have
that opinion of your nobleness and loyalty, that
if you undertake it, it cannot fail of success —
and I shall die more contented ; but it must be
executed as follows: —

" ' I will, that as soon as I shaU be dead, you
take my heart from my body and have it well
embalmed ; and you wiU also take as much
money from my treasury as will appear to you
sufiicient to perform your journey, ;is well as for
all those whom you may choose to take with
you in your train ; you will then deposit your
charge at the Holy Sepidchre of our Lord, where
he was buried, since my body cannot go there.
You will not be sparing of expense — and pro-
vide yourself with such company and such
things as may be suitable to your rank — and
wherever you pass, you will let it be known,
that you bear the heart of King Robert of Scot-
land, which you are cai-rying beyond seas by his
command, since his body cannot go thither.'

"All those present began bewailing bitterly;
and when the Lord James could speak, he
said, ' Gallant and noble king, I return you a
hundred thousand thanks for the high honour
you do me, and for the valuable and dear trea-
sure with which you intrust me; and I will most
willingly do aU that you command me with the
utmost loyalty iu my power; never doubt it,
however I may feel myself unworthy of such
a high distinction.' The king replied, 'Gallant
knight, I thank you — you promise it me then?'
'Certainly, sir, most willingly,' answered the
knight. He then gave his promise upon his
knighthood.

" The king said, ' Thanks be to God ! for I shall
now die in peace, since I know that the most
valiant and accomplished knight of my kingdom
will perform that for me which I am unable to
do for myself." ^

' The account of Barbour agrees in the main with that ol

A.D. 1326-1329.] ROBERT BRUCE.

Many have been at a loss to account for this
dying request, by which Scotland would be de-
prived of one of its best and bravest leaders,
and that too at a time when his services would
be most i-equii'ed. According to modern reck-
oning it was inconsistent with the well-known
wisdom and prudence of Bruce to send a wanior
like Douglas upon such a useless pilgi-image;
and they have endeavoured to discover more
kiugly and secular motives for the commission
than the superstitious feelings of the age. But
Bruce was a warrior, not a theologian; and
while in the former character he was the best
of his day, in the latter he was neither more
learned nor wiser than his contemporaries, who
believed in the infaUibility of the church, and
received its teaching without examination or
scruple. It was usual also for sovereigns of the
period in their dying houi's to look wistfully to
the laud of redemption and miracles, and to re-
gret that their occupations had prevented them
from visiting the Holy Sepulchre either as
penitent pilgrims or ;us warlike champions and
deliverers. And iu Bruce's case this longing
had a tenfold urgency. For he had mui-dered
a man within the sacred girth of the sanctuary

271

Froissart, and its touching simplicity will excuse its length
as a quotation :—

He said, "Lordings. swa it is gayn
With me, that thar is noucht hot ane
That is the dede, withowtyn drede,
That ilk man men thole off mede.
And I thank God that has me sent
Space in this lyve me to repent.
For throuch me, and my werraying,
Off hlud has bene rycht gret spilling ;
Quhar mony saklesa men war slayn.
Tliarfor this seknes, and this payn,
I tak in thank for my trespass.
And myn hart flchyt sekyrly was,
Quhen I wes in prosperity,
Off my synnys to sauffyt be,
To trawaill apon Qodds fayis.
And sen he now me tyll him tayis,
Swa that the body may na wyss
Fulfill that the hart gan dewyss ;
I wahl the hart war thyddir sent,
Quharin consawyt wes that entent.
Tharfor I pray yow euirilk ane,
That ye amang yow chess me ane.
That be honest, wj'se, and wycht.
And off hys hand a nobyll kiiycht,
On Godds fayis my hart to ber,
Quhen saule and corss disseueryt wer.
For I wald it war worthily
Broucht thar ; sen God will noiicht that 1
Have power thiddyrwart to ga. "—
Than war thair harts all sa wa.
That nane mycht hald hym from greting.
He bad thara Icve thair sorrowing,
For it, he said, mycht not releve ;
And mycht thaim r>'clit gretly engreve.
And prayit thaim in hy to do
The thing that thai war chargyt to.

Than went thai furth in drery mode.
Amang thaim thai thoucht it gnde.
That the worthy Lord off Dowglas

aud defiled the altar with his blood; and for
this, tlie deadliest of crimes, he had been visited
with the heaviest cui*se of the chui-ch, which
still lay upon him unremoved. That curse,
indeed, he had braved through years of battle
and the triumphs of success, and with the ho2)e
that it might yet be repealed. But the chance
of reconciUation had never arrived, and now
that he was upon his death-bed the gates of
heaven were still closed, and in a few houi's he
would knock at them in vain ! All this he
must have sadly and tremblingly believed un-
less he was an Albigeois or an atheist, and we
well know that he was neither. One chance,
however, remained for him — the chance of those
who, "dying, put on the weeds of Dominick."
Were but his heart carried to Palestine and
buried beside the tomb of the Redeemer, the
sanctity of such a grave and the merit of such
a pilgrimage would disarm the sentence of the
church aud absolve him from his guilt. Here,
then, was a motive sufficient of itself to account
for his eagerness to intrust Douglas with the
charge. The dying king was also anxious that
the pui-pose of the mission should be amiounced
in every land through which it pa.ssed. In this
way he could best proclaim to Rome itself and
to Christendom at large what, perhaps, from
his past independence they had often called iu
question — the depth of his repentance and the
sincerity of his Christian faith.

Besides these cares for his own spiritual wel-

Best schapjTi for that trawaill was.
And quhen the King hard that thai sw
Had ordanyt hj-m hys hart to ta,
That he mast yarayt suld it haJT;
He said, "Sa God hymselff me saiff I
I hald me rycht weile payit that ye
Haff chosyn hym : for hys boimt6,
And hys worschip. set my yamyng.
Ay sen I thoucht to do this thing,
That it with hjTii thar suld ber.
And sen ye all assentyt aer.
It is the mar likand to me.
Lat se now quhat thartill saj-is he."
And quhen the gud Lord off Dowglas
Wyst that thing thus spokyn was,
He come and knelyt to the King.
And on this ivyss maid hym thanking.
" I thank yow gretly, Lord," said he,
** Off mony largess, and gret boimt^,
That ye haff done me felsyss,
Sen fyrst I come to your seruice.
Bot our all thing I make thanking
That ye sa d>'ng and worthy thing,
As your hart, that enlumynyt wes
Off all bountt^, and all prowcs,
Will that I in my yemsall tak.
For yow. Sir. I will l)lythly mak
This trawaill. giff God will me gif
Laysar and space swa lang to lyff."

The King hym thank>'t tendrcly.
Than wes nane in that company
That thai na wepyt for pit^.
Thair chcr anoyis wob to le.

272

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1326-1329.

fare Bruce was anxious to the last for the
welfare of Scotland ; and it was either at this
interview or about the same period that he de-
livered those injunctions for the future defence
of the kingdom which have been called " Good
King Eobert's Testament." In theu- battles he
counselled that the Scots should fight on foot ;
that they should intrench themselves among
their mountains, morasses, and woods, instead
of stone %valls and bulwarks; and that their
offensive weapons should be the bow, the spear,
and the battle-axe. When they wei'e invaded
they were to remove their provision.s, drive
away all their cattle, and lay wa.ste the country,
so that the enemy, finding themselves sur-
rounded by a desert, should be compelled to a
hasty retreat. They were also to give the in-
vadere no rest, but to keep their encampment
awake with noise and continual alarms. It was
the most effectual defence of Scotland, of which
he had made full and successful proof ; and we
have seen in the recent campaign of Eandol])h
and Douglas into Northumberland how success-
ful this plan could be even for aggressive war-
fare vipon the English Borders, where the I'ugged
scenery resembled that of Scotland. As long as
they adhered to these simple rules the Scots in
after periods were able to battle their numerous
and well appointed enemies, and it was only
when their pride or impatience hurried them
into the unequal conflict that their armies were
quelled and their liberties imperilled.'

Bruce died at Cardross on the 7th of June,
1329. The father of the land had thus passed
away, and from castle to hovel there was wee))-
ing and sorrow over every Scottish hearth.
The poet-biographer of the hero, who describes

1 These rules were afterwards reduced into the following
leonine verses :—

" Scotica sit guerra pedites, mons. mossica terra:
Silvse pro muris sint, arcus et hasta, securis.
Per loca stricta greges munientur. Plana per ignes
.Sic inflanimentur, ut ab hostibus evacuentur.
Insidiie vigiles sint, uoctu voclferantes.
Sic male turbati redient velut ense fugati
Hostes pro certo; Sic Rege docente Roberto."

Of these lines the following old Scottish version has been
preserved by Hearne in his edition of Fordun : —
" On fut suld be all Scottis weire.
Be hyll and moss thaimself to weire,
Lat wod for wallis be; bow, and spier,
And battle-axe, their fechting gear.
That ennymeis do thaira na dreire,
In strait placis gar Iteip all stoire.
And birnen the planen land thaim befoire,
Thanan sail they pass away in haist
Quhen that thai And nathing hot waist;
With wylles and wakenen of the nyclit
And mekil noyse made on hycht;
Thanen shall thai turnen with gret alfrai
As thai were chasit witli swerd away.
This is the counsall and intent
Of gud King Robert's testament."

the universal wail, gives an affecting account of
the lamentations of those brave knights who
had thus lost their best leader as well as bright-
est example and ornament. "Alas ! " they cried,
" he that was all our defence, all our comfort,
our wisdom, and our governance, is thus brought
to an end. His nobleness and his prowess made
all that were with him so brave that they could
not be subdued while they saw him in presence
before them. Alas! what shall we do or say?
for while he lived we were dreaded by our
neighbours and renowned iu many a far coun-
try, and all because of him ! "

According to the royal wish the king's heart
was taken out, and the body, after having been
covered with cloth of gold and lap]3ed in lead,
was interred in the abbey church of Dunferm-
line, at that time a venerable edifice built by
Malcolm C'anmore and his pious queen Mar-
garet. A monument of marble, profusely orna-
mented with gilding, which had been made
at Paris by the ordere of Bruce himself dur-
ing his last illness, was erected over his gi'ave.
But with the lapse of time both church and
monument went to decay, and though a new
building was erected it likewise followed the
fate of its predecessor, so that the erection of a
third church was deemed necessary. But amidst
these changes the resting-place of Scotland's
preserver had so completely faded from public
memory that the precise locality could no longer
be ascertained. This, however, was accom-
plished on the 17th of February, 1818, when on
clearing away some of the ancient ruins the
workmen came to a vault which was ascertained
to be the long-hidden tomb of Robert Bruce ;
and a subsequent exploration, which was con-
ducted with much of the solemnity and sym-
pathy of the original interment, revealed the
dry skeleton of what had once been the victor
of Bannockburn. It indicated a man of gi-eat
physical strength who had been six feet in
height, while the strong square nether jaw was
such as usually betokens a spirit of unbending
resolution ; the jaw-bone also bore the traces of
a deep wound that had probably been inflicted
in battle. The breast-bone of the skeleton was
found to have been sawn asunder, and iu this
rude fashion only the skill of the age could
effect the extraction of the heai-t.^

And the career of that heart, so adventm-ous
while it lived, was still to be in peril and con-
flict. Douglas having procured a safe-conduct
from Edward III. for his journey to the Holy
Land, to aid the Christians against the Paynims,
.set sail ;is soon as the season permitted, having

- A full account of the discovery and exploration haa
been given iu the 2d vol. of the Ardueoloffia Scotica.

4.D. 1326-1329.]

ROBERT BRUCE.

273

the heart of hia beloved friend and master
inclosed in a .silver casket and suspended by a
chain from his neck. He was accompanied by
eight kuights and twenty-six esquires, with a
numerous military retinue ; and on reaching
Sluys in Flanders he remained at that port
twelve days, but without landing, waiting for
such bold adventurera as might be willing to join
him in his warlike pilgrimage. He lived, how-
ever, on board in kingly state; kept a magnificent
fcible to which all of fitting rank were made
welcome, and served from vessels of gold and
silver, with two sorts of wine and two sorts of
spices, while the neighbouring shores resounded
with the regal music of drums and trumpets
that waited upon his banquets.^ While he
abode at the port of Sluys he learned that
Alphonso XI., King of Castile and Leon, was
at war with Osmyn, the Bloorish sovereign of
Granada ; and finding that no crusade was in
preparation for Palestine, Douglas resolved to
encounter the infidels upon the soil of Spain, as
this warfare for the faith was an essential part
of his vow. On arriving at Seville he was
received by Alphonso with welcome and offered
bountiful supplies of treasure, hoi-ses, and arm-
our; but Sir James refused these oflere, and
declared that he had only halted in his pilgi-im-
age to fight against the Moors for the welfare
of his soul. Among the many knights of foreign
lands who had repaired to the Chri-stian court
of CastUe to combat, like himself, with the
unbelievers, were several from England, who
honoured his worth and frequented his society
like friends and brothers ; for the generous spirit
of chivalry and the common interest of a holy
war could suspend for the time every meaner
subject of contention. Of the strangers from
foreign countries was one who liad so often
fought again.st the Saracens that his face was
" hewn," as Barbour expresses it, with the scai-s
of many wounds, of which he seems to have
been not a little vain. One day this knight,
having expressed his astonishment that the
countenance of such a famed warrior as Douglas
should be smooth and unscarred, Sir James
modestly replied, "Tliank God, I had always
hands to guaid my head!" It was a covert
rebuke of the other's want of skill in the art of
defence, and the "good knights who were by,"
we are told, " praised the answer greatly."

The Moore of Granada were soon in the field,
ind Douglas with his Scottish band occupied a
L'onspicuous place in the front rank of the Chris-
tian army. But he had now a ditl'ercnt enemy
to deal with than those he hail been used to
encounter : instead of maintaining a stubborn

■ Froissart, book L c. 20.

stand-up fight to the la-st, and only quitting
the field when they could hold it no longer, the
light-aimed Moorish chivalry, like the Parthians
of old, trusted more to a retreat than an advance,
and were most to be dreaded when they seemed
to be in full flight. Douglas charged as he was
wont, bearing down all before him ; the enemy
withdrew as if routed, and hmxied on by the
ardour of pursuit, the unsuspecting Scot was
soon enveloped by the wily foe, who had thus
^sithdrawn him from the support of the Span-
iards. Although accompanied only by ten of
his followers, Douglas, who had been accus-
tomed to such straits, resolved to cut his way
through the throng; and, unfastening the casket
which he always carried with him from his neck,
he threw it among the thickest of the enemy,
exclaiming, "Pa-ss before us in battle, gallant
heart, as thou wert wont to do ; Douglas will
foUow thee or die !" He fought until he reached
this glorious mark, and there he fell ; most of
his companions were slain with him ; and after
the battle his body was found stretched beside
the casket, which he seemed to guard even in
death. Both were brought home by the sur-
vivore, and while the heart was buried in the
Abbey of Melrose, the remains of Sir James
were inteiTed in the burying-place of his ances-
toi-s in the church of Douglas.

Such was the romantic death of one of the
most romantic knights as well as able leadere
of his day. He had fought seventy battles, and
in fifty-tlu-ee had been victorious.^ The Eng-
lish, who had so often felt his prowess, called
him the " Black Douglas ;" but by his country-
men, to whom he was endeared by his gentle-
ness, kindness, and unbounded liberality, as
weU as valour, he was entitled " the good Lord
James." Leai-ned beyond the scanty scholai--
ship of his contemporai-ies, " sweet and debon-
air" in his bearing, and perfect in every chival-
rous accomplishment, he presents to us the fail-
ideal of knighthood ; his unswerving devoted-
ness to his sovereign through every stage of
trial, when so many proved faint or false, was
the perfection of loyalty; and his generous con-
duct to Randolph, and the fii-m friendship he
retained for him to the hist, shows how superior
he was to that envy and jealousy which are
usually so predominant in military rivalry. His
achievements as a leader, and the success with
which they were crowned, are sufficient also to
attest that his skill and prudence were equal to
his daring, and were permitted to regulate the
most adventurous of his attempts. In peixonal
appearance his complexion was gray or dark ;
his hail- black ; his body was lean and large-

■ Fonluo, xiiL c 2L

274

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1305-1307.

boned with broad shouldei's, and his limbs well
proportioned. Among his friends he was gentle,
mild, and agreeable of aspect; but those who
saw it in battle seemed to see another counten-
ance altogether, so terrible was the change. It is
also added, that although he somewhat lisped in
his speech, yet what in others would have been
a defect, was in him wondei-fully becoming, on
account, no doubt, of his high renown and mar-

tial demeanour. In this description, which
Barbour received from those who had known
the brave Scottish hero, we have a full portrai-
ture of him who was indeed "the Douglas
tender and true" beyond all that ever bore the
name. Two such deaths as those of Bruce and
the good Lord James were ominous of future
losses and disastera to Scotland, which succeed-
ing events but too well verified.

CHAPTER XI.

HISTORY OF RELIGION (1286-1329).

Jealousy of the Scots for their religious liberty — Influence of this spirit on the national character and history —
Restrictions imposed by the civil rulers on the power of the clergy — Remonstrance of the pope against these
restrictions — Enumeration of them in the papal bull — The married clergy of Scotland — Conduct of the Scot-
tish prelates during the war for independence — Their secret embassy to Rome — The pope's interference
with Edward 1. on their behalf — His claim upon Scotland as a fief of the Roman see — Indignant rejection of
his interference and claim by Edward — The pope's retiUTi to the cause of the stronger party — Hopelessness
for the national church in Bruce's championship of the kingdom — His successful resistance to the demands
of the pope —Recovery of the Scottish church through his successes — Able and energetic letter of the Scots
to the pope — Its bold and independent spirit — Its influence in altering the conduct of Rome in their
favour — Continuing success of the Scottish church — Increasing influence and wealth of the clergy — Account
of Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews.

In the history of religion during a preceding
period we had occasion to advert to the inde-
pendent spirit manifested by the Church of
Scotland even against the popes themselves, and
to the manner in which it was exhibited. But
while the churchmen were thus watching the
advances of pontifical despotism with a wary
eye, and ready to confi'ont it at every aggressive
approach, they were themselves watched in turn
and circumscribed by the laity, who were as
impatient of a priestly ;is the clergy were of a
papal yoke. This double system of check and
countercheck, which makes the history of the
Scottish church so perplexing an anomaly at
this early stage, and which has made so many
inquirere pass it over as too obscure to be in-
telligible, is yet of vital moment. It constituted
an impoi-tant element in the formation of that
hardy national character, by which Scotland was
to be fitted for her future destination. It pre-
jjared her for that terrible strife which awaited
her, wherein whole centuiies of trial were to be
encountered and overcome. And when the vic-
tory was won, and her political liberty secured,
it had nerved and fitted her for that further
conflict which was to succeed — even that war
for religious liberty which she w;is to maintain
against the despotism of the Stuarts, and in which
she was as bold, self-sacrificing, and successful, as
in her wars against the Plaatagenets. These con-

siderations give an importance to facts which
would otherwise be scarcely worth nan-ating:
they may also apologize for the repetition of
facts which have been previously mentioned in
the civil portion of the narrative.

Of this twofold watchfulness, so jealous for
the preservation of liberty both against priest
and pontiff, and so annoying to the papal con-
clave, a singular proof was afforded in the middle
of the thirteenth century. Alexander III. was
still in his early minority; but, warned by recent
events, his guardians, in administering the affairs
of the kingdom, had vigorously checked every
encroachment of the clerical upon the civil
authority. Such opposition was not to be en-
dured from one petty kingdom when all the rest
had proved so acquiescent, or from a clique of
nobles who merely acted by a delegated author-
ity; and in 1251 Innocent IV., the reigning
pontiff, roused himself to vindicate the rights of
the church, which had been violated by the in-
juries inflicted on the Scottish priesthood. A cry
of the Scottish church, it was stated in the pre-
amble of a buO to that effect, had entered into the
eai-s of the Father of Christendom, complaining
that the ministere of Alexander III. were avail-
ing themselves of the minority and tender years
of their young sovereign to invade ecclesiastical
liberty, "which they who \'iolate, break the
strength of princes wherein the Catholic faith

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

275

flourishes, and whereby the dignity of kings is
riglitly led." Innocent therefore gives commis-
sion to the Bishops of Lincoln, Worcester, and
Lichfield to inquire into the nature of these
alleged abuses, with full power to punish the
offenders. It is supposed that the bull, though
^rawn out, may not have been transmitted, as
.10 notice of its execution appears in history.
But it is also not unlikely that it reached its
destination, and that the English prelates were
not very anxious to carry it into effect.' From
past events, indeed, we can judge how such an
inquest was likely to have been received in
Scothmd. The bull itself is written in a very
angry strain, and from it we leai'U that the
guardians of the young sovereign had been guOty
of the following enormities: —

1. When the Scottish bishops pronounced
sentence of excommunication, interdict, or sus-
pension against ofFendere for their contumacy
or crimes, they had been required by lettere in
the king's name to revoke the sentence under
penalty of confiscation — a punishment which
had actually been inflicted upon several of their
number.

2. In questions relating to the property and
possessions of the church, priests, notwithstand-
ing the privileges of their order, had been com-
pelled to appear in civil courts, where some-
times they were deprived of their possessions
by the awards of these incompetent judges.

3. Those possessions which had been given in
jierpetuity to the church by laymen, burdened
only with the condition of mUitary service and
beaiing a share in public aids, were held to be
laic fees, and treated accordingly.

4. On the evidence of laymen who were hos-
tUe to the clergy, and ready to perjure them-
selves, the royal counsellors had n;uTowed the
ancient boundaries of ecclesiastical possessions.

5. Concerning the right of patronage, which,
in spiritual matters, is only subject to ecclesias-
tical jurisdiction, these rulei-s have issued orders
iu the name of the king, commanding questions
of patronage to be tried in the civil court.

6. In like manner, although the observance of
oaths pertains to spiritual matters, they have
prohibited ecclesiastical censures for enforcing
their observance.

7. They have prohibited ecclesiastical punish-
ments dealt in the form of a pecuniary fine.

8. They have abolished the exaction of sevend
small tithes.

9. They have diminished the privileges of the
married clergy.

' A copy of this bull was first published by Sir David
Dalrymplo in the Appeudix to Annals qf Scotiajtd, voL L
no. Iv.

10. They have refused to allow causes to be
tried by papal delegates.

" These are grave offences," it is stated in the
bull, " and can no longer be passed over through
concealment, or left unpunished, without being
guilty of sin." But the exposure and the pun-
ishment would have been a diflicult task ; for it
is added that many of the Scottish clergy them-
selves had co-operated with the lay rulers in
encouraging these offences. It is apparent from
this papal specification that the chief care of the
Scottish statesmen had been to withstand those
growing usurpations of the clergy which had
become so prevalent in every other pai't of
Eiu'ope; that their eflbrts had been successful;
and that they had been aided in their attempts
by an influential portion of the priesthood, who
were either too careless or too conscientious to
make common cause with their less moderate
brethren. But what shall we say of the married
clergy, in whose behalf the pontiff had shown
such astounding solicitude ? Such men were
already reckoned monstrosities in the church;
and even in Scotland, where the law of clerical
celibacy had been latest iu entering, the wives
of these priests were branded by the church
statutes with the odious name of concubines.
Strong, therefore, must have been the rebellion
in the Scottish chxirch which compelled the pope
to have recoui-se to such allies. But who were
these clerici iLxorati? A careful attention to
the words in which they are described justifies
the suspicion that they were no other than the
old Culdees, who, having conformed to the period
of holding Easter and to the form of the tonsure,
had as j'et conformed in nothing else, and were
still too numerous and influential to be lightly
provoked or thrown aside.- So late as the close
of the thirteenth century they had still been so
powerful as almost to exclude William Lam-
berton from being elected Bishop of St. An-
drews;^ and it was not until after that period,
that they ceased to appear as a distinct body in
the Scottish church.

In the troubled events and changes that suc-
ceeded the death of Alexander III. we find the
Scottish prelates taking an active part, but it
was rather as politicians or even a-s warriors
than recluse churchmen or dispensei-s of reli-
gious offices. This was nothing less than a
necessity of their position according to tlie
usages of the times. A brief notice of a few of

^ Tile words in which the m.arriecl priests are specified in
the bull are the followiuK:— ■Clerici vero uxorati ejusdem
rcuni. qui clericalem deferentes tonsuram clerical! ^audere
Solent privelegio, et cum bonis suia sub ecclesiastica? pro-
tectionis mancre pncsidio ab antiquo, solito? ininiunitatis
beneflciis exuuntur, ct sub nova rcdiguntur oncra scrvi-
tutis."

* .Spottiswood, p. 61.

276

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1329.

these appearances will in some measure show
the spirit iu which they acted amidst the selfish
and sudden shiftings of the period. Of the
six guardians who were chosen to preside over
the realm during the interregnum two were
bishops. The ready interference of Edward
I. as arbiter among the competitors, for the
purpose of reducing Scotland to Lis own
rule, was chiefly owing to the intrigues and
counsel of William Fraser, Bishop of St. An-
drews. On the other hand when Bruce, Baliol,
the Scottish regents, and most of the powerful
nobles swore fealty to the English king in 1291,
previous to the decision of the claims of the
competitors, the only Scottish prelate who
joined them in this unnational deed of vassal-
age was Mark, Bishop of Sodor. But as a coun-
terpart to this magnanimity we find that five
yeai-s afterwards, when Edward had apparently
crushed the liberties of Scotland by his victory
of Dunbar, the bishops in his line of march
through Scotland joined the nobles in submit-
ting to the conqueror and swearing themselves
his liegemen. For this act, and to secure their
further obedience, Edward granted to the Scot-
tish bishoi» the privilege of bequeathing their
effects by will — a valuable boon, as previous to
this period their property when they died had
reverted to the sovereign. When Wallace raised
the standard of liberty and was joined by seve-
ral influential persons, one of these was Robert
Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow. But his faith was
of the same wavering kind as the rest, and in
the hour of trial he joined them iu their apos-
tasy, for which the Scottish champion pillaged
the bishop's house and led his sons into cap-
tivity.i

When Scotland was reduced to the last ex-
tremity by the defeat of Wallace aud dispersion
of his followers the Scottish church shared in
all the calamities that befell the devoted king-
dom. The Bishop of St. Andrews w;is iu Fi-ance
a voluntary exUe. Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow,
and Maurice, Bishop of the Isles, were prisonei-s
in England. The other churchmen who had
manifested any sympathy for the cause of their
country's independence were harassed by the
oppressions of the victors. In this state of
things, and seeing no other source of help, the
unfortunate priests applied secretly to Rome by
a deputation of three of their number. The
arguments of these suppliants prevailed with
the conclave, being backed, as an English his-
torian- alleges, with money, which could pur-
chase everything at Rome; but how, in their
sore straits, they could have found money for

' Foedera; Scotichron.; Lord Hailes; Spottiswood.
- WalsingliMU.

the purpose it is not easy to conjecture. The
only guerdon, indeed, that they could ofl'er was
a promise of the gratitude of their church, and
a more compliant spirit in its rulers for the time
to come. This, indeed, is probable, from the
assertion of Edward that these envoys had
suggested the strange mode of the papal inter-
ference in behalf of Scotland, and the argu-
ments with which it was enforced. The pontiff,
Boniface VIII., now brought forward his memor-
able claim ; it was that Scotland belonged not
to England but to the see of Rome, because it
had been miraculously converted to Christianity
by the bones of St. Andrew ! By similar state-
ments he might have extended his claim to
every kingdom in Christendom. As might be
expected, the proud and passionate Edward
was indignant at the claim, and the command
with which it was accompanied to desist from
his hostile aggressions upon the property of the
Holy See. But should he have any pretensions
to the whole or a part of Scotland he was de-
sired to send his proctors to Rome within six
months, when the cause should be tried by the
pope in person and decided according to justice.^
We can easily conjecture, notwithstanding such
a promise, what the decision would have been.
But Edward I. was a very difl'erent character
from John his gi-andfather, and he rejected the
demand with scorn. Still it was necessary to
show causes for his refusal, and accordingly
every muniment was ransacked for historical or
traditionary proofs to show that Scotland had
been of old a feudatory of England, and stUl
owed it subjection and fealty. The progress of
this singular controversy between the king and
the pope, and the extravagant statements with
which Edward fortified his claim, have been
detailed in a preceding chapter. His reply was
enforced by another from the English pai-lia-
ment, in which they declared then- .sovereigns
to be the rightful liege lords of Scotland, their
purpose to maintain their king's authority over
it to the uttermost, and their firm resolve that
he should send no commissioners to Rome to
answer upon such a question. In this way a
strong political motive could reverse the con-
duct of two proud kingdoms towards him who
claimed to be heaven's vicegerent; and while
Scotland seemed to be on the eve of abjuring
her past obduracy and becoming his obedient
vassal, England had rebelled aud was defying
him to his teeth. With king and parliament
thus combined against him Boniface must have
felt that there was little chance of influencing
England, and that the rebellion of such a rich
province of the Roman see could never be com-

' Fccdera, ii. 844.

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF RELIGIOIJ.

277

pensated by the submission of such a poor and
profitless country as Scotland. It was not by
such policy that the popedom could attain the
rule of every kingdom and the control of every
treasury. The pontiff accordingly made haste
to repair his blunder. He rated the unfortu-
nate Wishart for having encouraged the Scots
to rebel against such a pious king as Edward,
by which he had made himself odious both to
God and man; and he exhorted the trembling
prelate to repent and seek to obtain forgive-
ne.ss.' In the same strain he wrote to the Scot-
tish bishojjs commanding them to laboiu' for
the promotion of the public peace, and threat-
ening them with severe censures if they refused.'^
Such was the requital which Scotland obtained
for her lowly submission to Rome, such her
experience of its justice and immutable integ-
rity. The lesson was not forgot, and time
ripened it into action.

It was thus that, when Scotland had lost the
services of her best champion and was lying
helpless beneath the foot of the oppressor, the
head of the church had also turned against her
and even menaced her resistance with excom-
munication. Nor were matters more promising
for the Scottish church when Bruce assumed
the place of the murdered Wallace in the high
work of national delivei'ance, for he commenced
the attempt with such a deed of sacrilegious
murder as was certain to aiTay every Christian
community against him. He was, moreover,
\'isited with the awful ban by which he was
cast forth as a withered branch ; and all who
aided or accompanied him were declared in like
manner to be accursed. Rome had now a cause
of hostility against Scotland in which not only
Christendom at large would sympathize, but by
which the favour of England coidd be com-
pletely propitiated. But although the cause of
Edward was thus consecrated into a holy war,
as being waged against outcasts who were no
better than Saracens and infidels, the Scottish
hierarchy were not to be driven from their
patriotism ; and among the best supporters of
the excommunicated Bruce were Lamberton,
Bishop of St. Andrews, Wishart, Bishop of
Glasgow, David Moray, Bishop of Moray, and
the Abbot of Scone. Long yeai-s of trial fol-
lowed in which we search in vain for any record
of the Scottish chmch, whether as acting or
suffering. But in 1317, after the triumph of
Bannockburn, it again emerges into notice, and
on this occasion through its struggle against
the ascendency of Rome. Edward II., quelled
by his late defeat, and hopeless of i-educing
Scotland by the usual form of wai-fare, had be-

> Fadtra, a 904.

taken himself to the pope ; and at his request
John XXII. issued a bull commanding a truce
between England and Scotland for two years
under penalty of excommunication, and sent
two cardinals to enforce its observance. But al-
though Bruce listened patiently to these pacific
proposals, he refused to open the pope's sealed
letters becau.se they were not addressed to him
with the title of king, and would not agree to
a truce without the consent of his parliament.
In this way the bold assertor of Scottish inde-
pendence vindicated his own religious rights
and these of his country against the usurpations
of the pujiedom. But still more decisive was the
treatment of the sacred bulls and missives them-
selves, and the messenger who carried them,
when the cardinals endeavoured, thi-ough their
furtive introduction into Scotland, to compel
the truce, which would only have been profit-
able for England. The unfortunate messenger,
the father-guardian of a Minorite moiuistery,
on his way to Berwick, was waylaid by an armed
band, robbed of his buUs and other papei-s, and
was left naked on the road.

In the following year (a.d. 1318), when the
continuing successes of Bruce enabled him to
add the duties of a legislator to those of a
warrior, a parliament was assembled at which
several laws were enacted for the protection of
the kingdom and preservation of public order.
On this occasion the rights and privileges of
the church were first of all taken into account
and confirmed anew in all their former integ-
rity, and all encioachments uj)on or spoliations
of its property and goods were strictly pro-
hibited. Churchmen were also prohibiteil from
carrying money out of the kingdom without the
royal permission — a uecess,iry check upon those
purchasers of church preferments and priWleges
which now formed the chief traffic of Rome. All
that the conclave in the meantime could inflict
upon Scotland was the threat of excommunica-
tion ; but of this the Scots seem to have made
little account and to have passed it over in silence.

At length, in 1320, when the recovery of in-
dependence appeared certain, it was time to
speak out. A national letter was to be drawn
up and sent to the pope, not for the purpose of
expressing contrition and craving forgiveness,
but to justify what they had done, and indicate
their future proceedings. This memorable docu-
ment was written in the name of the eails, lords,
barons, freeholders, antl the whole community
of Scotland, with the exception of the church-
men, wlio, on this occasion, could scarcely sub-
scribe to such a cartel, and who therefore de-
corously stepped aside, although they no doubt
looked on with deep unbreathing attention and
hearty sympathy. The letter itself, which is

278

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

given in full by our old historian,^ is worthy of
heedful notice. In the commencement its writers
were careful to show that they were not a nation
of 3'esterday, or worthy of being treated with
scorn ; in proof of which they referred to the
ancient gests and histories in which their deeds
were recorded. Their ancestry was derived
from Greece and Egypt. Their fathers had
migi-ated to Spain, and there settled for ages,
the fiercest and strongest nations having been
unable to dispossess or subdue them. Twelve
hundred years after the exodus of the Israelites
from the land of bondage, the Scots again
migrated from Spain to the laud in which they
now dwelt, and there they had maintained their
occupation against Norwegians, Danes, and Eng-
lishmen by whom they had been successively
assailed, and yet had maintained their freedom
throughout, as ancient histories testified. Dur-
ing this period one hundred and thirteen kings
of their own blood without foreign admixture
had reigned over them. Their conversion as a
nation to Christianity, too, was of an early and
honoured date, for it had been effected by the
ministry of St. Andrew himself, that gentlest
brother of the blessed St. Peter, who had chosen
from thenceforth to be their patron saint. We
may smile as we please at such apocryphal state-
ments, and wonder that they could have been
addressed to such a learned college as that of
Eome. But these statements formed part of
the veritable history of the age: the Italians
could not impugn them, the English feared they
might be true, and the Scots had proudly re-
sisted and bravely died in the animating belief
of their veracity.

After this preamble came the pith of their
application, which was made in the spirit of a
people proud of their claims, and confident that
they were worthy of being heard. " Taking all
these things," they added, " into account, and
regarding both kings and people as the flock of
the brother of the blessed Saint Petei-, your
predecessore endowed them with many favours
and privileges, so that under their protection
our nation flourished in peace and freedom;
until that powerful king of England, the father
of him that now Ls, under the pretext of unity
and alliance, hostilely invaded us while the
kingdom was without a head, the people fearing
neither fraud nor injury, and being at that time
unpractised in war. The injuries, slaughter,
and deeds of violence, the plunderings, con-
flagrations, imprisoning of prelates, burning of
monasteries, spoiling and slaying of religious
men, and other enormities which lie inflicted
upon the said people, sparing neither age, de-

[a.d. 1286-1329.

gree, nor sex, no man coiUd tell or fully under-
stand, unless he had learned them by experience.
From which innumerable evils we have been
freed, through the favour of Him who, after
wounding, cureth and niaketh whole, by that
most able prince, our loi'd and sovereign Robert.
He, like another Maccabeus or Joshua, endured
toils and trials, privations and dangers with
a cheerful heart, that he might deliver his
people and inheritance from the hand of the
enemy; and him, also, divine ordination, om'
own laws and usages which we are resolved to
maintain to the death, the law of succession,
and the due assent and consent of all of us, have
made our chief and king. To him by whom
deliverance has been wi-ought to om- nation, and
for the protection of our hberty, we do adhere;
and on account of his rights and deserts we
shall continue to adhere to him in all things.
But should he desist from his enterprise, and
be inclined to subject us or the kingdom to the
King of England or the English, and become
the subverter of his own and our rights, then,
him also we shall immediately strive to expel,
and will choose for us another king, who may
be better fitted to protect us : for, as long as a
hundred of us remain alive, we will never in
any case submit to the dominion of England.
It is not for riches, glory, or distinction that we
fight, but only for freedom, which no good man
will forego except with life itself.

" Hence it is, reverend father and lord, that,
bowing the knees of our heai-ts, we entreat your
holiness with all the urgency of prayer, that as
the eartlily vicegerent of Him who is no re-
specter of persons, and who makes no distinc-
tion between Jew and Gireek, Scot and Eng-
lishman, you would look with paternal eyes
upon the afflictions brought upon ourselves and
upon the church of God by tlie English and the
King of England, whose own possessions ought
to suffice him, seeing England was formerly
wont to be enough for seven or more kings.
Deign to admonish and exhort him, that he
would allow us, Scotsmen, who dwell in a poor
remote country, ;md who seek nothing but what
is our own, to remain undisturbed. To obtain
this quiet we are willing to gi-ant to him what-
ever we can concede, respect being had to our
national rights. It concerns you, holy father, to
do this, who see how the cruelty of the Pagans
rages against Christians for the chastisement of
theii' sins, and how the boundaries of Christen-
dom are becoming daily more contracted. You
can also perceive how much it would derogate
from your renown in future records if (which
heaven forbid) the church in any portion of it
should be obscured, or give cause for reproach,
under your administration.

..D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF RELIGION.

279

"Let this consideration rouse the Christian
princes, who, assigning groundless causes, pre-
tend that they cannot go to the defence of the
Holy Sepulchre, from the wars which they have
to maintain against their neighbour-s. A more
veritable cause of this unwillingness is, that in
subduing their weaker neighboui-s they find
that they have a more immediate profit, with
less trouble and resistance. He knows who
knows all things how gladly our aforesaid lord
and king and ouraelves would go thither, if the
English king would consent to let us go in peace:
and this we now declare and testify to the vicar
of Christ and the whole Christian world. But
should your holiness give too credulous an ear
to the reports of the English, and refuse to credit
OUT' sincerity or to desist from favouring them
to our destruction, we do believe that to you
will be imputed by the Most High the destruc-
tion of bodies, the perdition of souls, and all the
other mischiefs that may ensue whether on our
part or theirs.

"Prepared like dutiful childi'en to yield to
you all obedience as the vicar of God himself,
we commit our cause to the protection of the
supreme Sovereign and Judge; ca.sting oiu' cares
upon him, and firmly trusting that he will in-
spire us with valour, and bring our enemies to
nought."

It will be seen at once that this application,
simple and even rude though in many points
it may appear, was yet a masterpiece of diplo-
macy. Every argument, whether political or
religious, every threat that could deter or pro-
mise that might perauade, was brought forward
in due place, and with admirable concatenation,
to win a favourable verdict from such an arbiter
as the pope. It is impossible, too, not to admire
its independent spirit, so much in contrast to
the appeals of other nations addiessed to the
papal conclave. It will be seen, also, that among
the oflered inducements was the promise of a
Scotti.sh crusade for the recovery of the Holy
Sepulchre. That this promise on the pai-t of the
heroic Bruce, unlike that of so many other sove-
reigns of the age, was made in full sincerity,
there can be no doubt; it was his favourite wish
during life ; and the impossibility of its fulfil-
ment wa.s the chief theme of his dying regrets,
when he ordered his heart to be conveyed to the
sacred tomb. The pope was moved, and the
result was that he sent to Edward II. recom-
mending him to desist from warring against
Scotland. So well, too, had the pontiff been
schooled by this lesson, that in desiring the
cessation of the war, he speaks of it in the very
words of the manifesto, where it mentioned
" the destruction of bodies, the perdition of
souls, and all the other mischiefs that might

en.sue from it."' On further occa,sion.s, also, he
continued to manifest a gracious relenting to-
wards Scotland and its king. Their cause, in-
deed, was in the ascendent, at every step they
were now successful, and it did not suit the
papal policy to commit itself against what might
yet prove the winning side. This altered mood
towards the stiff-necked and rebellious Scots,
although chary in its manifestations from fear
of alienating England, seems to have been con-
firmed by Randolph's memorable embassy to
the court of Rome, and it continued till the
close of Bruce's reign, when the peace of North-
ampton made such hesitation no longer neces-
sary; for, by one article of the treaty, the King
of England was pledged to employ his mediation
in obtaining from the papal court a revocation
of all spiritual processes against Scotland and
its excommunicated sovereign.

Such is the scanty, though not unimportant
history of the Scottish chiu'ch during this event-
ful period. It was a period of military struggle
and political change, in which no national church
could well have a separate record, and where
most of its movements were but auxiliary to
those gi'eat secular proceedings in which the
national existence itself was at stake. But that
the clergy were steadily advancing in influence,
and still more in wealth, even in spite of such
untoward circumstances, is e\-ident from the
example of one of the most eminent of their
order — Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews. He
held his office for the long period of thirty
years; and although, at the commencement of
his political career, he veered, like the other
men of mark, from the cause of his country to
that of England, and again from the English to
the patriotic side, he was yet an able and in-
fluential supporter of the cause of Bruce, for
which he suffered a long imprisonment in Eng-
land, and was not released tUl the death of Ed-
ward I. He died while the treaty of North-
ampton was pending. He erected the costly
abbey buildings of St. Andrews, and made them
his usual residence. One of his servants, aston-
ished at his liberality, a.sked him, "Why do
you lay out such gi-eat sums for the monastery,
and neglect to build for youi-self ?" " I ho|M;,
before I die, to build more than my successors
shall well maintain," was the bishop's confident
answer. The promise w;is fully performed, for,
besides repairing his palace of St. Andrews, he
built mansions at Monimail, Toiry, Dairsie,
Inchmurdach, Kettins, and other places, for
himself and his successors. This inordinate
love of ecclesiastical architecture, which was so
greatly in contrast to the poverty of the connti-y,

1 Fcedera, t til. p. S17.

280

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1329.

appears to have become a passion with our
early Scottish prelates, and was no doubt in-
spired by those splendid religious edifices which
were ah-eady so numeroiis in Scotland. Besides

these spirited undertakings, Lamberton finished
the cathedral church of St. Andrews, which had
been many years in buUding, and dedicated it
with gi'eat solemnity in 1318.'

CHAPTER XII.

HISTORY OF SOCIETY (1286-1329).

Condition of Scotland at the commencement of this period — Questionable value of its prosperity — Its sudden
interruption — Condition of the country for resistance at the commencement of the war with England —
Its artificial defences — Castles and fortresses — Description of the baronial castles — Modes of siege and
resistance — Natural defences of the country — Mountains and fastnesses — Woods and forests of Scotland —
Military condition of the people — Chivalry — Its introduction and improvement — Armour and equipments
of the Scottish knights of this period — Weapons of the common soldiei's — Their mode of fighting — Warlike
pri&sts of the period — Political state of Scotland — Estabhshment of the law of royal succession — Revenues
of the Scottish kings, and whence derived — Administration of justice — Scottish justiciaries — Royalties
and regalities — Multiplication of regahties and their dangerous tendency — First establishment of Scottish
parliaments — Causes of the introduction of the popular element — Representatives of burghs — State of
Scottish commerce — Its depression from the war with England — Efforts of the English kings to close the
foreign ports against it — Coin.ige of Scotland — Its value in labour and produce — Agriculture of Scotland —
Its scantiness — Impediments to the cultivation of the soil — Resoiu-ces of the people from agriculture,
pasturage, and fisheries — Tenure of land in Scotland — State of the free peasantry — Of the slaves and
bondmen of the soil — Games and sports of the people — Minstrelsy — Popular ballads— Eminent men — John
Duns Scotus — John Bassol.

The reign of Alexander III. appears to have
been the happiest era in ancient Scottish liistory.
It was a period in whicli the spirit of national im-
provement, now wakened into life, had achieved
in a few years a whole century of progress.
The kingly authority was establishing its pi-e-
eminence over the rude chieftainship by which
it had been rivalled. The law of royal succes-
sion, hitherto such a fruitful source of conten-
tion, was now so distinctly understood and so
cordially recognized that the throne itself w.ts
occupied as peacefully as any ordinaiy patri-
mony. And although as j^et there was no regu-
lar parliament by which the wishes of the
people could be expressed and their interests
maintained, the sovereign authority in all im-
portant public measures seems to liave been
exercised chiefly with the advice and assistance
of the nobility, whose power acted as a counter-
poise and a check upon the despotic tendencies
of monarchical rule. The Teutonic races also —
Norwegian, Saxon, Norman, and Flemish — in-
truders into a land which they were only begin-
ning to claim as their home, and whose right of
occupancy rested only on strength to keep what
their courage had won, were from that very
necessity combining themselves into one people

1 Scotichron. ; Spotti&wood's Hiatory of the Cliiirch of Scot-
land, p. 64.

and acting together with a harmony and cordi-
ality which contrasted with then- discordance
in other countries, and especially in England.
While the political condition of the kingdom
was thus so greatly advanced, the industrial
ai-ts were exhibiting a simOar improvement.
As we have already seen, commerce was calling
forth the active enterprise, and manufactures
the ingenuity of the people; and amidst this
new stir of occupation it was natural that there
.should be "wealth of ale and bread, of wine
and wax, of game and glee." But was this pro-
gress too quick, this exuberance too premature
to be lasting? Was it necessary that Scotland
should acquire that iron endurance of constitu-
tion and invincible pereistency of character
which have so singularly fitted her for her na-
tional mission by an ordeal which few nations
could have survived? These are questions which
will occur to the reflective, and an answer in
the aflirmative can scarcely be withheld. It was
not a mere random accident that threw Scotland
so rudely back and compelled it to commence a
new career.

This terrible conflict for independence — this
breast-to-breast gi'apple for life itself as well as
liberty, which was to last not for a generation
or two but for whole centuries — having thus
commenced in earnest, the condition of Scotland
for such a furnace of trial, and its primary

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

281

effects upon the people at the commencement,
become the chief subjects of consideration at
the present period of our history.

In commencing such a survey we begin with
the artificial defences of the country — the
castles, forts, and ramparts which every people
erect for defence against invasion, or even as
restraints against internal commotion. But here,
unfortunately, we meet with little else than half-
forgotten sites or mere fragments of ruins, in-
stead of solid buUdings or falling edifices. Even
of our time-honoured castles little else than the
name remains, while the building itself is of a
later date. The stern but wise policy of Bruce,
which in the first case decreed the demolition of
these edifices, and the barbarism of modern
times which has swept away their vestiges, have
made an inquiry into this subject both diflicult
and uncertain. But a country of such stately
monjisteries could not be without strong castles,
were it merely to protect them ; and the same
skill which sufficed to erect the abbey of Mel-
rose was sufficient for the construction of a
fortress. The Scoto-Normaus and Saxons also,
who needed such defences in a land that was
not their own, and who were regarded as in-
truders, were not likely to forget the sti-ong
habitations which they had occupied in Eng-
land nor willing to dispense with similar
shelter. Thus castle-building must have gone
on from the period of Malcolm Canmore, and
the fortresses of England have served as their
models. And that such protections were not
few we learn from an incidental notice that
during the earlier part of the reign of Alex-
ander III. the northern coast of Scotland w;is
well defended from invasion by castles of stone,
and that these were put in a state of defence
when the coming of Haco was apprehended.

Taking the baroniid castles of England under
the reign of King John as the tj-pc of those that
existed in Scotland during the earlier part of
the thirteenth century, we can in some measure
imagine their appearance and their fitness for
defence. The site was chosen with respect to
difficulty of access, and every advantage, whether
of land or water, was carefully taken into ac-
count. Hence the picturesque position which,
in such a country as Scothmd, many of these
strongholds occupied, although beauty was the
last quality thought of in their erection ; and a
castle whose towers and battlements were built
so high as to surmount the danger of escalade
necessarily formed one of the most striking
features of the Iandsca|)e. Where the sea or a
lake was not at hand to guard tlie ai)])roacli to
the outer wall, a ditch or moat was made for
the purpose. When this liad been crossed by
the besiegers the main gate was to be entered ;

VOL. I.

and this was made a trying task, as instead of
being level with the ground it was elevated by
steps to a considerable height above it, and
secured in its only approach by a drawbridge
that was raised by those within. But even
when this gate was won, it and the tower with
which it was connected could be destroyed by
the defenders ; and the assailants were opposed
by a second and stronger portal that was closed
against them by a heavy portcullis, which de-
scended through a gi-oove in the solid wall. If
the enemy sought to shun the multiplied diffi-
culties of the main gate, they could find no
other entrance except a small sally-port which
was under the drawbridge, but so high that it
could only be reached by escalade, and so nar-
row that only one man could enter at a time.
When these outworks were successively won the
main building was still capable of holding out;
for its entrances were rendered difficult by steeji
narrow staire where a single soldier could hoKl
a whole troop at bay, and defended by strong
doors of oak that were clamped and riveted with
iron. In addition to these means for a stout
and successful resistance, the main building and
its approaches were provided with blind pas-
sages to mislead the enemy, which, when forced,
presented at then- extremity nothing but a solid
wall. There were also towers and arches for
the same purpose, being apparently of light
structure, but which, when assailed, were found
to be absolute rocks of solid masonry and the
strongest parts of the building. The means of
the besieged to annoy their assailants at every
step were also proportioned to the number and
sti-ength of their defences. Instead of windows
the walls were plentifully provided with looj)-
holes, from behind which the garrison, sheltei'ed
by the peculiar structure of these openings, could
gall the advancing enemy with showera of stones
and arrows, and at every change of movement
the assailants were subject to front and ffaiik
discharges of the same kind from the ramparts.
Within the covered ways, also, there were open-
ings in the roof for pouring down boiling watei'
or molten lead and pitch.' That such castles
should so often have been taken and retaken
might appear surprising, did we not know that
the courage of the assailant is generally of a
more active and enterprising character than
that of the assailed ; that no enterprise has as
yet been found too difficult for human daring;
and that wherever the mason can climb with his
tools the soldier can ascend with his weapons.
While such were the means of security and

1 Of the descriptions of nncient castles one of the folleat
and best is that of Edward King in Archtroloffia, vol. Iv.
p. 36.'>, from wliicli thci^e tirief notices have I>een chielly
taken.

19

282

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1323.

defence, it was necessary that the lord of the
castle should also have within its walls the
means of maintaining his almost regal state
and living in comfort. While, therefore, the
first and second stories of the great or main
tower were loopholed and occnjjied by his mili-
tary retainers, the third or upper story, which
was lighted by Gothic windows, formed the
residence of the barou. Here he had space
enough to accommodate his guests, who in those
early days of simple life could be content with
incredibly narrow quarter and beds of the
most primitive material. Here he had his
armoury, in which, at any sudden alarm, him-
self, his friends, and chief officers could be
speedily hai-nessed from head to heel. And
here, above all, was the great hall or state
apartment in which he presided in full grandeur
either as lord of the revel or feudal superior and
justiciary of the district. It generally occupied
nearly the whole length and breadth of the
main tower; its roof was of carved oak; and at
either end of the apartment was a large recess
which served as a fireplace, having a semicir-
cular stone seat behind the fire. In the upper
part of the budding was contained the artillery
of the castle — the war-wolfs, mangonels, and
ballista;, which, in case of need, could quickly
be hoisted up and planted upon the battlements.
The store for holding provisions and the dun-
geon for prisoners were genei'ally in the lowest
and strongest part of the building.

In laying regular siege to such fortresses the
means adopted were such as necessity and mili-
tary skill have suggested in every age and
country. The garrison was plied with volleys
of stones and arrows to facilitate the advance
of the storming party upon the fosse, outer
wall, and drawbridge. A large beam of wood
that served the purpose of a battering-ram kept
up an incessant play upon the wall until a
breach was efiected. A testudo of strong boards
covered with hides was often wheeled up to the
walls, under shelter of which the assailants
worked with shovel and pickaxe to undermine
the solid masonry that could not otherwise be
shaken. A more laborious process, when these
means were ineffectual, was to erect movable
wooden towers that overtopped the walls, man-
ned with archers and slingers, and provided with
a drawbridge that could be let down upon the
battlements as soon as the volleys of missiles
had cleared them of their defenders. Some-
times a pile of dry branches was heaped up
and kindled at the foot of a wall or tower, that
the smoke might bewilder the garrison and the
flame crack the solid masonry or set fire to the
building. If the castle was surrounded by a
stream or lake, dams were built to let the waters

accumulate so as to flood the besieged and
compel them to yield.

Such were the principal structures for defence
at the commencement of the war of independ-
ence, vai-ying, of course, in degree from the
stately pile of the powerful noble to the humble
fortalice of the knight or squire. Bat of a
higher and still more ample description, both
for accommodation and resistance, must have
been the royal castles, of which there were not
less than twenty-three when they were delivered
into the hands of Edward I. as arbiter of tlie
royal succession. These had been erected for
the protection of the Border against England,
for the maintenance of order among the more
imsettled districts, or as barriers against the
invasions of the predatory clans of the Higli-
lands. But in the war which followed Bruce
quickly perceived that the English, from their
greater resources and higher skill in fortifica-
tion, were able to convert these into most for-
midable chains and bridles of the national
liberty; and therefore as often as he could
retake them he doomed them to ruin without
scruple. The same disinterestedness animated
his heroic friend, the good Lord James Douglas,
who repeatedly razed his own paternal home as
readily as he would have demolished a Noi-th-
umbrian castle. The surest defences of Scot-
land from henceforth were to be sought among
its natural ramparts, and the battle for freedom
was to be fought among its rocks and morasses,
its mountains, dells, and valleys — those places
where Liberty is contented with a bower or a
cave when the land can no longer afi"ord her a
settled home.

In every age until the present a mountainous
country has proved the best of safeguards
against a richer and more powerful enemy; and
it has only been in modern times, when strategy
seems to have reached its culminating point,
that the hours of a stronghold's resistance can
be calculated with mathematical certainty, and
the defenders of a mountain be more effectu-
ally marked ofi' by a cannonade or turned by
a countermarch. Of the mOitaiy advantages
afforded by the Scottish mountains, and the
alacrity with which they were manned by their
bold defenders, the history of the period abounds
in instances. Aware of the advantages of such
a position, the English seldom cared to attack
an army so posted ; and their chief effort, there-
fore, was to allure it into the plain, where their
own superiority in arms, discipline, numbers,
and cavalry gave them every chance of victory.
Of all the generals of his day Bruce seems to
have been the only one who not merely under-
stood the art of making such a defence avail-
able, but of rendering it useless to the enemy

A.D. 1286-1329.]

when they endeavoured to turn it against him-
self. It was in this last particular that his
militai'y excellence appeai-s so transcendant as
to place him in that front rank of men, of whom
each nation has seldom more than one repre-
sentative. Of the facts illustrative of this pecu-
liar superiority we have only to allude to the
signal defeat which he inflicted upon the Lord
of Lorn among his own steep mountain passes
at Dairy near Tyndrum, and his victory over
Edward II. in his almost inaccessible post near
Biland. But not only the sides and summits of
the Scottish mountains were excellent points of
ilefence, but also their bases, where those vallej's
which are nowdrained and weU-cultivated fields
were at that early period nothing but mosses
and swamps, and an army having one of these
in front or flank could scarcely be assailed by
cavalry. Even to the English infantry an ad-
vance through such an iutrenchment was fuU
of perO, honey-combed as the ground was with
quaking bog and hidden water-.spring, which
nothing but a thorough acquaintanceship with
the locality could avoid. An assailing army,
however superior, could scarcely struggle through
such obstacles with impunity, even though they
had guides to lead them, when they had such
an enemy as Wallace or Bruce watching their
advance and ready to receive them.

Among the natural defences of a country not
the least important are its woods and forests.
In these the military musters can be made in
silence and secrecy. They furnish those places
of ambushment in which a band can lurk un-
detected until the moment of onset. In tlie
event of a defeat they afford sheltei-s and rally-
ing points for the vanquished which the pur-
suers are compelled to respect. In reading the
history of Scotland the frequent mention of its
numerous forests, and the military uses to which
they were turned, as well as the stirring exploits
of adventure and battle by which they were
signidized, form a strange contrast to the aspect
of the country in modern times, when its want
of trees had become proverbial. But no his-
torical fact is more certaui than that Scotland
was well wooded at those early periods, and that
it abounded in forests of large extent. Many
remains, indeed, of that vast Caledonian Forest,
whose dark and apparently boundless depths
arrested the career of the Roman legions, were
still in existence to try the courage of the Eng-
lish invaders. Of these the forests of Ettrick,
Selkirk, Jedburgh, Mehose, Boyne, anil Forres,
so otten mentioned in the annals of tliis period,
formed but a small poi-tion of a chain that seems
to have stretched over the whole extent of the
kingdom. There was, indeed, too much wood
for a i)eople that needed sustenance as well as

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

283

shelter; and there was no William the Con-
queror or William Rufus to arrest the progress
of demolition in behalf of the wolf, the wild
boar, and the wild ox that herded in its deep
recesses. Farms were to be cleared for plough-
ing or pasturage; trees were to be felled for fuel
or building; and amidst such urgent wants, the
diminution of a forest would go on with the
ruthlessness of a confirmed habit, and with
gi'eater rapidity than the need strictly warranted.
The English, too, when they invaded the coun-
try, or established themselves in any wooded
district, were eager to destroy those shekel's,
from which they were exposed to continual
attacks. Thus, in a single inroad into Scotland
conducted by the Duke of Lancaster, we are
told by the historian Knighton that 80,000
English hatchets were employed in the work of
clearance. The continued burning of the Scot-
tish towns, also, at each fresh invasion, and the
task of rebuilding them, made the nearest wood
be regarded as a quarry, from which materials
could be obtained on the easiest terms. These
cii'cumstances are enough to show that the de-
struction of timber was likely to be a pi-ocess
both speedy and complete; and that the time
would come when this superfluity would be less
regretted than the absolute dearth that was sure
to follow. But such a consideration was too
prophetic for the Scots of the thirteenth cen-
tury; and Edward I. and his successora were
made to feel that their gi-eatest obstacles to a
complete Scottish conquest lay in these vast
well -sheltered recesses, which contained an
enemy that could not be reached, as well as
dangei-s that might not be safely defied.

Scotland having thus so many defensible
points that the whole land was a natund for-
tress, the military appointments of the people
themselves come next to be considered. And
here that " cheap defence of nations" — chivalry,
and chivalry in reference to the knighthood
of Scotland, demands its due priority of notice.
This institution appeal's to have been utterly
unknown among the Celtic nations, and to have
been introduced into Europe by the Teutonic
tribes, who, under the various names of Saxon,
Dane, and Norman, continued to improve it,
until from a rude form it expanded into a mag-
nificent system, when it became the governing
spirit of the middle ages and the great arbiter
of the fate of nations. Among the Anglo-
Saxons before the Norman conquest of England
we find that the institution of chiv.ilry essen-
tiidly partook of a religious character; the young
warrior w;»s dubbed, not by a layman, but a
priest; and being thus honoured, he w;is bound
to obey the church and advance its interests as
the liighest of knightly duties. But the Nor-

284

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

man coiiquerore, by whom ttiis Saxon form of
chivalry was quickly supplanted, were so pro-
fane as to laugh to scorn the idea of a priest-
made knight, and would only receive the dis-
tinction from a layman of high military fame
and rank. It was in this secular character that
chivalry was probably brought into Scotland,
and by those discontented Norman adventurers
who quitted the service of William the Con-
queror for that of Malcolm Canmore. From
the Bayeux Tapestry and the figures upon early
seals we can form some idea of the appear-
ance and warlike habiliments of these fathers
and founders of our Scottish chivalry. The
new Norman comer, who entered the gates of
Dunfermline, and rode through its narrow,
hovel-covered streets towards the palace in quest
of something better than mere protection and
a home, was a personage worth looking at. He
brought with him nothing but a skilful eye, a
strong arm, and a fearless heart — but he knew
that with these alone his countrymen in every
quarter of Europe were winning their way to
princely honours and possessions. TJj5on his
head is a cone-shaped helmet, having an out-
ward-sloping bar in front, called the nasal, but
as yet with no cheek-pieces to cover the rest of
the face. His body and legs are protected by a
hauberk composed of steel rings set up edgeways
and stitched upon a stiff leather garment resem-
bling a modern surtout or overcoat, and reaching
below the knee. From the neck of his hauberk
hangs a sort of tippet or cowl, also of ring-
covered leather ; and this, when he is about to
enter into battle, he can hook up over the chin
and fasten to the nasal in front, so that nothing
of his face will be visible but the eyes, that flash
with the joy of combat or the hope of victory.
His shield, which usually hangs from his neck,
except in close hand-to-hand combat, when it
can be quickly transferred to the left arm, is of
the form of a kite or pear; his sword, that rattles
against his ring armour, is of great breadth in
the blade nest the hilt ; and at the head of his
long lance, which he holds proudly upright, is
a gay streamer, probably intended at first only
for ornament, or to frighten an enemy's hoi-se
by its fluttering, but which has now become the
owner's personal cognizance, as well as the symbol
of his knightly rank. How soon that little
streamer will become a broad banner to attest
its lordship over a hundred hills ! The gate of
the palace closes upon the stranger, and his
proud armed step is welcomed from the throne
of which he is to become an ornament and pro-
tector.

Such were the earliest equipments of knight-
hood in Scotland; and it must be confessed that
they were both scanty and rude, as compared

[a.d. 1286-1329.

with those of chivalry in its prime. But in Scot-
land as in England there was quickly mani-
fested the desire of a gayer, easier, and more
protective panoply, as well as more numerous
weapons of offence. These stages of improve-
ment, however, were so numerous, that instead
of particularizing them we can only give their
results, as they were manifested at the com-
mencement of the war. A Scottish knight of
the Wallace and Bruce period, instead of a stiff'
hauberk of leather covered with rings, was now
protected by a flexible garment of chain-work,
in which the links were interwoven and con-
nected together like the meshes of a net ; and
this was properly the coat of mail (French
maille, Latin macula) so often mentioned in
our early histories. The hands that had hitherto
been unprotected were now guarded by a pro-
longation of the hauberk sleeves as far as the
tips of the fingers ; and the conical helmet, that
had passed into the barrel shape, and been fur-
nished with its ventagil or vizor of steel bara to
guard the face, was settling into a still more
graceful form by being rounded at the top.
The legs and feet were also protected by cover-
ings of the same kind of maO that enveloped
the body. But the suiieriority of plate armour
over yielding chain- work in guarding against
blows that could crush as well as pierce was
beginning to be felt; and at the commencement
of the present period defences of this kind were
used as caps to guard the shoulders and knees,
and sometimes also in the form of greaves to
protect the legs. This improvement was so
acceptable, that at the close of this period the
English knights — and, we may presume, those
of Scotland also — were armed half in plate and
half in mail. It was not long after that knights
and men-at-arms were covered with plate ar-
mour from head to heel, the chain-work being
only retained in small portions, where flexibility
of joint was most needed, or where the wearer
wished to be fenced with the double protection
of a mail as well as plate covering. Over this
panoply was worn a surcoat made of cloth or
linen, sometimes much shorter before than be-
hind ; and as this mantle was a distinction of
kiiii,'hthood and noble rank, .as well as the cog-
nizance by which the wearer could be known,
locked up as he otherwise was in a complete
inclosure of steel, it was embroidered with those
figui-es by which he could be recognized, and
which afterwards constituted the heraldic dis-
tinctions of his family. It was not long, also,
until what might be called the foppery of
knighthood required that the surcoat, especially
at tournaments and princely festivals, should
be made of silk and richly adorned with em-
broidery of gold. The chief offensive weapons

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

285

of knighthood during this period, besides the
sword and lance, were the anelace, which was a
strong broad dagger tapering to a fine point;
the estoc, which was a short stabbing sword ;
the mace, which requires no desciiption ; and
the battle-axe. This last weapon, with which
Bruce dealt such a signal blow on the helmet of
De Bohun at Bannockburn, became a favourite
weapon with the Scottish knights, who, accord-
ing to the testimony of Fioissart, could wield it
with one as well as both hands, and with such
dexterity as to baffle the more agile movements
of an antagonist's sword.

In speaking of the equipments of a knight
for battle it would be unpardonable to omit his
horse, as it was the companion of his warlike
adventures and the original badge of his superi-
ority over the mere rabblement of foot-soldiers,
while as yet they were nothing better than a
mob. Before the war of independence com-
menced the Scottish knights, although greatly
fewer in numbers, seem to have been as well
mounted as those of England. A charge of the
Scottish cavalry, headed by Prince Henry, rent
the English ranks asunder like a cobweb and
almost won the battle of the Standard; and at
the battle of Largs the Scottish knights were
mounted on Spanish hoises completely barbed
and of gi-eat value. This mention of barbed
steeds introduces another peculiarity in the
knightly equipments of the period. In the
closing of a charge or the confusion of a melee
it was evident that the chief danger must fall
upon the unfortunate steed, and that when it
w;is struck down the heavily-armed rider had
the chance of being useless or a prisoner. The
horse, therefore, was now cased in armour as
well as the knight, having a sort of helmet
called a chamfron to defend its head and face,
and a covering of steel plates or chain- work to
defend the chest and flanks. A horee in this
warlike trim was said to be barded or barbed.
Man and steed, thus equally' harnessed and
ready to break through the opposing ranks like
an iron statue set in motion by the touch of
the magician, must have looked the very per-
fection of warlike improvement. And yet this
was little else than the panoply worn by the
Paitliian cavalry more than a thousand years
earlier, when they brought the Eoman legions
under Crassus to an unwonted pause at the
fatal battle of Carrhoe. But after the victory
of the Scots at Largs we hear little more of
their troops of mailed horeemen, and for this
silence sufficient aiuses can be ;issigned. Tlie
ruinous invasions of Edward I. and the poverty
they occasioned put an end to the costly impor-
tation of foreign horses, so that the Scots had to
content themselves with their own smidl-sized

Galloways, which were excellent for nimble
conveyance but altogether unfit for the shock
of battle. Their war for liberty was chiefly of
a defensive character, and therefore to be main-
tained among their own mountains and mo-
rasses, where cavalry was generally useless;
and when they canied their retaliations into
England they relied more upon the nimbleness
of their movements and the excellence of their
encampments than pitched battles on the open
plain. The Scottish knights and nobles, indeed,
retained their Large-boned heavily-armed war-
horses, to cope ill battle with the knights of
England, or for the purposes of show or a tour-
nament ; but in other respects they seem to
have contented themselves with a hobin or light
hoi-se for the march, and to have fought on foot
like the rest.

Of the weapons of the common soldiers a
brief notice will suffice, as this is a department
which has been forestalled in tlie account of the
battles of the period. The invasion of Edward
I. and his establishment of garrisons over the
country must have been accompanied by the
entire or partial disarming of the natives, and
at the commencement of the campaigns of Wal-
lace we find no such mention of military equip-
ments as the earlier Scottish armies had possessed
under the leading of their sovereigns. Of de-
fensive armour they had almost none, while
their chief oifensive weapon was the long spear
— a weapon easily made, and only requiring a
stout heart and vigorous arm to wield with
effect. Of necessity, therefore, they became
peculiarly a nation of spearmen fitted for defen-
sive warfare; and an aiTay so armed, whether
gathered into a compact phalanx or divided
into schOtrons, could only hope to oppose the
terrible onsets of the English cavahy by stand-
ing unflinchingly shoulder to shoulder and re-
ceiving the charge upon a bristhng rampart of
steel points. And how bravely and successfully
this was generally done the history of these wai^s
sufliciently testifies. When the country, how-
ever, became more settled Bmce, who saw the
necessity of defensive armour for the complete
equipment of an effective soldier, directed his
cares to this subject; and from his ordinance
of arms, published a.d. 1319,' we learn how the
different classes of his subjects were expected
to be armed at this period of his reign. Every
gentleman who had land to the value of £10, or
movable property to the same amount, wa.s to pro-
vide himself for military service with a hacque-
ton, a steel helmet, gloves of plate, and a sword
and spear. Every one who held land or property
of a less amount was to have an iron jack, an iron

> Carlular. Aberbnli. p. tU.

280

HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND.

heaJ-jjiece, and gloves of plate. Of the lowest
class of soldiei-s no man was to be without a
spear, or a bow and a sheaf of arrows. Had
these enactments been complied with to the let-
ter, and for subsequent periods, a Scottish army
would not only have been better fenced against
the deadly cloth-yard shaft of England, but able
in some measure to requite it in kind. But
where the choice lay between a spear which
could be easily handled, and a bow that re-
quired the apprenticeship of half a lifetime, the
former was certain to be generally preferred;
and therefore during the present period we
hear almost nothing of the effective services of
the Scottish archery.

In a sketch of the state of society during this
warlike period one class of brave and very influ-
ential combatants must not be omitted. These
were the prelates and high church dignitaries
of Scotland. If we are offended at finding
these ministers of peace careering, lance in rest,
we must also take into account the age and the
occasion. Throughout Europe the Ci-usades had
inspired the clergy with such belligerent tastes
as were not likely to be soon relinquished ; and
every country at this period could boast of its
valiant bishops, whose favourite seat was a
war-saddle and whose most cogent ai'gument
was a lance -thrust. The least unscrupulous,
indeed, in this portentous array of soldier-
priests, that extended over several ages, was
the Bishop of Beauvais, the dreaded antagonist
of Coeur de Lion himself, who in the latter part
of his military career showed such respect for
the canon law as to wield no weapon but a
massive club, with which he could brain his
antagonists without the sin of blood-shedding.
And with few of these was the temptation to
battle so strong or the cause so justifiable as in
the case of the Scottish hierarchy. Nursed in
civil commotions where mere self-defence obliged
every one to be a soldier, and having lands and
possessions which in such a rude age the sanc-
tions of religion alone coidd not fully guard,
every bishop and abbot, in common with the
lay lords, had his armiger and scutifer, his men-
at-ai-ms and tenants of military service. In
such a state the invasion of Edward I., and the
national bondage that menaced all right and
possession, whether secular or sacred, roused
them from their retirements and summoned
them to the field as to a holy war in which
they might freely participate. In this manner
Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, joined Sir William
Wallace. Thus Lamberton, Bishop of St. An-
drews, became an active partisan of Bruce, as
did also the Abbot of Scone. These thi-ee emi-
nent church dignitaries did not scruple to wear
harness under then- rochets, and when taken

prisonei-s by the English it was in knightly
panoply. We have also noticed how readily
Sinclair, Bruce's own bishop, started to the
onset against the invaders at Donibristle, as if
it had been a fit portion of his sacred calling.
It would be ungenerous to inquire how learn-
ing was prosecuted or its interests advanced
under such priestly guardianship. It was not
to be expected of these mailed hands that
they should transcribe the pages of the ancient
classics or turn over the leaves of Augustine or
Clu'ysostom.

In passing from the military to the political
condition of Scotland during this period our
notices must be both brief and unsatisfactory.
What, indeed, can be predicated of any country
during so short a time, in which a minority, an
interregnum, a usurpation, an anarchy, and
finally a regular rule succeed each other in such
restless rapidity; and above all, where an arbit-
rary conqueror could not only tamper with the
old national institutions, but blot out their very
memory at pleasure ? In such a strait we can
only glean and gather the few relics that have
survived, and attempt from these to form a
shadowy outline rather than a life-expressing
picture.

The law of royal succession, formerly so f i-uit-
ful a source of family contest and national
change in Scotland, had now been adapted to
the usages of Europe and liad received the full
concuiTence of the Scots. This they fully showed
at a time when urgent circumstances would
have most tempted them to set it aside. At
the death of Alexander III. there was no
lack of brave and powerful nobles collaterally
descended from the royal family; but in prefer-
ence to these the Scots recognized for their
sovereign Margaret of Norway, child, female,
and foreigner though she was, because she was
Alexandei-'s gi-and-daughter. In like manner,
when Bruce succeeded to the perm.anent occu-
pation of the throne, his claim was founded
neither upon his superior power nor yet upon
the fact that he had made Scotland a free king-
dom, but upon his being nearest of kin to the
royal family after the more direct claims of
Baliol and C'omyn had been extinguished. With
this recognition of the law of royal succession as
it prevailed in other countries the same feudal-
ism naturally sprang up which was established
throughout Eurojae at large, and with which a
king could no more dispense than Charlemagne
with his nine peers or Arthur with his knights
of the Bound Table.

The royal revenues for the maintenance of
his court and authority which Alexander III.
enjoyed, and to which Bruce and his de-
scendants succeeded, were derived from various

A.D. 1286-13^9.]

HISTOEY OF SOCIETY.

287

sources, the principal of which were the follow-
ing : — The rents and produce of royal lauds and
manora. The customs levied on agi'icultural
produce under the name of can or l:ain. The
customs on exported wool, woolfels, and hides;
on foreign trade and shipping, and on articles
of native manufacture. The escheats of estates
that fell to the crown by forfeiture or failure in
succession. The wardship and marriage of heira
who were under the guardianship of the crown.
Tlie ijresents or benevolences which every great
tenant of the crown was requiied to pay on im-
portant royal occasions, such as a coronation,
the king's marriage, the marriage of one of his
sons or daughtei-s, &c. The state which the
Anglo-Scotti-sh sovereigns had maintained from
these sources of revenue lia-s been described in
a former chapter. Their progressive increase,
growing as they must have done with the wealth
of the country, had enabled Alexander III. to
exhibit an amount of regal splendour which
none of his predecessora had reached. This was
opportunely done when he repaired to London
to attend the coronation of Edward I., for he
bestowed such a rich and popular largesse as
must have dazzled the crowd and given them a
high idea of the riches of a Scottish king. On
this occasion he and his attendants dismounted
from their richly - caparisoned foreign steeds
and turned them loose among the throng as
prizes to whoever could catch them. This ex-
ample was so infectious that the English nobles
followed it, and thus the populace were unex-
pectedly regaled gi'atis with a horse-lottery full
of rich prizes.^ When Bruce had restored tlie
kingdom to its former independence one of his
first cares was to re-establish the royal revenue,
which had suffered gi-eat waste and alienation
during the previous anarchy; and this fcisk, we
can well imagine, he found as difficult and far
more ungracious tlian the rigorous military cam-
paigns in which his endurance had been put to
the test. Indeed it is not unlikely that his
measures to this effect were among those unre-
corded causes by whidi the latter part of his
reign was troubled through the discontents of
his nobles, whose usurpation of crown lands
was thus defeated.

In the system established for the administra-
tion of justice at the commencement of this
period our knowledge is still imperfect. The
patriarchal rule, which prevailed in Scotland
even after the accession of the Anglian dynasty,
when the king w;us the dispenser of justice as
well as its legislator, could ouly be practicable
in a rude and early age; and the picture of
David I., as given by an English historiau,-

' KnightoD, p. 2461.

sitting on certain days at his palace gate, like
an ancient patriarch, to give judgment to all
who repaired to him, does not appear to have
been repeated by any of his successors. As the
kingdom beaime larger and more populous all
that royalty could effect was to make a progress
over the country, to ascertain that its delegates
were rightly discharging their duty— to judge
the judges themselves and punish their delin-
quencies or shortcomings. Such were the an-
nual journeys which Alexander III. w;us in the
habit of making ; and they indicated a state of
society still unsettled, and requiring a careful
guardiansliip. Before the death of this king it
is supposed that law was administered by two
gi-eat judges, one called Justiciarius Scotice,
whose charge comprised the whole of Scotland
beyond the Forth ; and the other, Justiciarius
Loudonice, whose authority extended over the
whole of the country south of the two firtljs.
But, besides these, there is occasionally men-
tioned a thii-d magistrate, called the Justiciarius
ex parte horeali aquce de Forth, whose jurisdic-
tion and office ainnot be distinctly ascertained.
On the subjugation of Scotland Edward I. en-
deavoured to assimilate the forms of its juris-
prudence to those of England by a more minute
subdivision of the country and the appointment
of more justiciara; but the plan, however ex-
cellent in itself, was thrown off by the people,
with the other tokens of national vassalage, as
soon as they had recovered their liberty. When
the framework of government was reconstructed
by Robert Bruce, five justiciai-s appear to have
been appointed as supreme judges of Scotland.'
By these great officers acting under the king,
the recognized head of national law and justice,
cases of litigation were tried and conclusive
awards delivered. And yet they and their de-
puties were not the sole judges of the kingdom,
but only of those portions of it which were com-
prised under the title of royalty, and as such
subjected to the government of the king and
judges of his own appointing. But, besides the
royalty, there were numerous regalities scit-
tered over tlie kingdom, originally crown grants
bestowed ujion tlie nobles or the church, and
wliich enjoyed the right of self-government
attached to them. At what time they obtained
tliis formidable right is uncertiiin ; but it ap-
peal's in the firet instince to have been con-
ceded to the clergy, wlio established in conse-
q\icnce an exclusive jurisdiction over their own
territories. So tempting a privilege was soon
claimed in like manner by the nobility, who
were too imwerful to be refused; and thus
each baron was enabled to erect his court and

> Tytler's Outcry of SeoOand.

288

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1320.

appoint liis judge over his own domain, who de-
cided in cases even of life and death irrespective
both of kings and royal justiciars. In this way
the authority of the sovereign was curtailed in
extent and rivalled in power by every fresh
crown grant ; and these regalities continued to
grow and multiply to an extent that threatened
the royalty itself with final absorption. The
evil was too strong to be cured, and the utmost
that Bruce could attempt was its abatement.
He therefore divided the immense estates that
had lajjsed to the crown by the treason or death
of their owners into smaller baronies, which he
bestowed upon his deserving followere, with the
old rights of regality attaolied to them. But
the new occupants were not the less eager to
manifest their superiority and enjoy their power,
because the means were so limited; and accord-
ingly every little baron who held his laud by
this tenure was ready to erect his court, hold
his trials, and exercise the full power of fossa
et furca, although his dwelling might be but a
single tower surrounded by a ditch, his territory
a mile or two of heath, and his military array
a dozen of jackmen. It was the lofty titles and
liigh immunities of these barons, contrasted with
their poverty and limited holdings, that after-
wards so greatly puzzled the higher nobility of
England, and formed such a tempting oppor-
tunity for bribery on the part of the English
kings, when they found that Scotland could not
be won or quieted by force. The immense poli-
tical evils that accrued from this unfortunate
multiplication of kinglings will be fuUy appa-
rent in the subsequent stages of Scottish history.
Previous to the death of Alexander III. we
find no distinct proof of a parliament properly
so called having existed in Scotland. In great
political emergencies, of which already there
had been not a few, the Scottish kings had been
wont to take counsel with the chief men of the
nation — with the nobles in whose hands were
the military resources, and with the higher
clergy who were supposed to represent the in-
telligence and integrity of the country at large —
and their decision, whatever it might be, had
the force and effect of law, and was obeyed
without disputation. Not only were the people
unrepresented, but they do not seem to have
felt the omission of a third estate in the national
council as a grievance. Even the parliament
which sat at Brigham in 1289, for the settle-
ment of the most important difficulty which
had as yet occurred in Scotland, consisted, be-
sides the five regents, of nothing more than ten
bishops, twelve earls, twenty-three abbots, eleven
priors, and forty-eight barons ; and these mag-
nates, who negotiated with Edward I. under the
title of the " Community of Scotland," were re-

ceived and acknowledged by him as such. But
events were now at hand which made the re-
cognition of the people at large a matter of im-
perious necessity. A war for national liljerty
was to be fought, and the people who were to
supply the strength and sinews of the battle
must liave some voice in the national council.
How otherwise could their inclination be ex-
])ressed or then- concurrence secured"? It is
from this war, therefore, although we cannot
ascertain at what precise point of it, that we
find the commons beginning to be represented
in the Scottish parliament. Because the origin
of the change commences during this period, it
has been often taken for granted that Ed-
ward I., the Justinian of England, w;is the
author of this important improvement, and
that therefore he may be excused for many of
those permanent evils which his ambition en-
tailed upon Scotland. But it would be strange
if he had thus sought to give liberty to a people
whom he was toiling to crush and enslave.
Besides that the pressure of a general calamity
and tlie necessity of a combined effort would
naturally induce, and even compel the voice of
the people to be admitted into the council of
national deliberation, all the interests of Edward
in the subjugation of Scotland were decidedly
hostile to such an enfranchisement. It was
from the people, headed by their favourite
lea.ders, that the opposition first arose ; and it
was by them that his attempts were defeated.
Was it likely, then, tliat so crafty a politician
would so strengthen the popular element and
give it a voice in the council, where it was cer-
tain to oppose him, more especially when a
majority of lords and prelates were already on
his side ? It was only, therefore, when his
tyranny began to display itself in treating the
crowned Baliol as a vassal, and Scotland as a
conquered province, that we first hear of the
meeting of a parliament having its third estate
— men who represented, as we are further told,
the communities of the villages (or burghs) of
the kingdom of Scotland.^ The acts of this
parliament were in full keeping with that popu-
lar element which had been infused into it.
The Englishmen who had begun to settle in the
country were banished out of Scotland. The
estates of Edward's adherents in the country
were confiscated. An immediate war with Eng-
land was resolved on. The alliance with France,
the enemy of England, was to be renewed and
di'awn more closely by a royal mai-riage.^ From
this date to the end of the period, as often as
the succession of national difficulties required a
parliament to be called, we always find the

1 Rymer's Foedera ; Scotickron.

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

289

majorespopvli, the representatives of the burghs,
forming an essential portion of the meeting.

As we liave seen in a former chapter the com-
merce of Scotland at the death of Alexander III.
had rapidly risen in iuijjortance and extent;
and had the war with England not occui-red,
it is probable that the two nations would
have maintained a rivalry of mercantile en-
terprise which would have redounded to the
welfare of both. Nor was it merely the mer-
cantile enterprise of towns or of the laity by
which the resources of the country were called
forth, its traffic enlarged, and its wealth in-
creased. The clergy had also brought theii'
influence and superior iuteOigence into such a
profitable competition; and, however secular
or selfish their aim might be, it is cei-tain that
they benefited the country, while they enriched
their own community. The earliest of those
privileged mercantile communities in Scotland,
called gilds, were chiefly composed of monks.
Every monastery that could command the ad-
vantage of water conveyance had generally a
ship. Besides thuir cultivation of home produce
for internal trade or exjjortation, the clergy were
also careful to promote the fisheries, so abun-
dant a source of national profit, which they
were among the earliest to turn to the best
account. It was not therefore to be wondered
at if they soon became rich beyond the other
communities, and turned their wealth into the
profitable channels of banking and money-
lending. In the old cartularies, from which the
foregoing indications can be Largely collected,
we find that the wealthy monasteries were ready
to accommodate with money loans, for which
they exacted large profits and concessions. But
upon this prosperous active mercantile career
both of priest and layman there was laid a
sudden and violent aiTest, after which the
nation was rudely thrown back into its former
poverty. The mediaeval wealth and grandeur
of Bei-wick, that second Alexandria, its sudden
capture, and speedy reduction into a mere mili-
tary station and fortress — these melancholy
changes only typified that Scottish commerce
of which it was the great emporium. As soon
as a momentary breathing interval had been
found in consequence of his first successes, Sir
William Wallace, now governor of the kingdom,
directed his great natural sagacity and foresight
to the restoration of the national commerce as
the true source of the n.ational strength and the
best promise of its future stability; and one of
his fii-st negotiations was with the commercial
towns of the Continent for the re-establishment
of commercial interests between them and his
own country. But the storm of war succeeded
in gi-eater violence than before, and in its course.

not only his wise patriotic plan, but the very
memory of it was swept away.

The history. Indeed, of Scottish commerce
during the greater part of this period is little
else than an account of the efforts of the King
of England for its impoverLshmeut and utter
extinction. And this, too, after he had pre-
viously used its resources for his own benefit.
Thus when he was about to invade Wales, Ed-
ward I., among his other expedients for the
supply of his armj', ordered fish to be purchased
on the west coast of Scotland, which were to be
conveyed to Chester; and among these were
specified a hundred barrels of sturgeons of Aber-
deen, this town having already been noted for
its excellence in curing fish. In like manner,
when he invaded Scotland, Galloway supplied
him with abundance of horses for draught and
carriage. The attempts of Edward II. to tear
up the commerce of Scotland by the roots
were mai-ked with peculiar vindictiveness. He
saddled the lettei-s of safe-conduct granted to the
Flemish merchants, with the condition that the
Scots should not be permitted to jjurchase arms
or provisions in Flandei-s — a condition, how-
ever, to which Eobert, Earl of Flanders, would
by no means consent. He answered that he
had proclaimed throughout his dominions that
the Scots were rebels to the English king, and
had prohibited his subjects from aiding them in
their rebellion. But from remote ages,he added,
Flandei's had been dependent upon its com-
merce, and was open to traffickers from every
quarter ; and, therefore, neither the Scots nor
any other peojile could be excluded from the
Flemish markets, but should rather be protected
from all oi>iire.ssion, while they carried on their
trade honestly and without fraud.' The traflBc
between Flandei-s and Scotland was therefore
continued to Edward's great discontent, and
eight years afterwards (a.d. 1.313) he renewed
his appeal. He complained to the earl that the
subjects of the latter still traded with the Scots
and supplied them with arms, as well as pro-
visions and other necessaries; and during the
same j-ear he again wrote, declaring that thir-
teen Flemish ships had lately conveyed arms
and victual into Scotland. It was probably in
consequence of receiving no redress that Ed-
ward II. soon after ordered all the Flemish
vessels in the English ports to be arrested.^ But
the Flemings quickly discovered that in sym-
pathizing with the weaker country they had
consulted their time interests and benefited them-
selves. When Edward, as he was bound by
treaty, had prepareil to aid the King of France
in subduing Flanders, he found that in couse-

1 Fadera. v. p. 86S. ' Ibid. t. UL 386, MS. 419:

290

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1329.

quence of the Soottish wai's, and especially the
invasion of Ireland by Edward Bruce, he could
not send his whole fleet against the Flemings,
as he otherwise would have done, but only a part
of it. As Bruce in his difliculties was obliged
to apply for aid wherever it was likely to be
found, he entered into negotiations with Genoa,
two citizens of which had engaged to supply
him with shipping, provisions, and military
stores. But the lettere to that effect were in-
tercepted by Edward II., who complained of the
bargain to the Genoese government, and de-
manded the punishment of the two citizens as
a warning to those who presumed to traffic with
his greatest enemy. And soon after he hh-ed
and obtained five vessels from that republic to
be employed against Bruce and his adherents.'
As the successes of the Scottish arms con-
tinued to increase, and the establishment of
Scottish independence to become more certain,
the King of England became more earnest than
ever to shut up the Scots to their own scanty
resources, for they still continued to be supplied
by their traffic on the Continent with those wai--
like stores of which they stood most in need.
The fact, also, that the Scots and their king
had been visited with excommunication and
interdict enabled Edward to urge his appeal
with a new argument. He accordingly repre-
sented to Robert of Flaudera that all dealings
with a people who were accui-sed by the church
would not only be impolitic but dangerous and
damnable, and consequently to be avoided by
all good Christians. He therefore besought the
eai'l, for the welfare of his soul, to shun from
thenceforth any traffic with the Scots, lest he
should become a partaker in the curse and pun-
ishment of such godless customers according to
the tenor of the papal sentence. He also
transmitted the same pious warning to the
Duke of Biubaut and to the magistrates of
Bruges, Damm, Nieuport, Dunkii'k, Ypres, and
Mechlin. But although this was the most for-
midable of all his applications, the bold inde-
pendent spii-it of these mercantile communities
had already learned to value alight even the
papal thunder and to hold it in defiance. He
of Flandei-s accordingly replied as before, that
his ports were open to the whole world, and
that merchants from whatever quarter could
not be excluded without involving his country
in ruin. Before this he had also embittered his
refusal by designating Robert Bruce " King of
the Scots," although Edward claimed them as
his own subjects. The Duke of Bretagne in
general terms professed his ignorance of any
such intercourse between his people and the

' Fcedera, v. iii. 604.

Scots, and declared that he had prohibited it.
The magistrates of Mechlin, in their reply to
Edward, complained of the evils they had sus-
tained from the Scots at sea, and promised that
none of their ships should ever be allowed to
touch at their coa.sts, unless compelled by stress
of weather. The answers of Bruges and Ypres
were more sturdy and decisive, the latter only
engaging to advise theii' merchants to have no
further deaUngs with the Scots.- From the
foregoing statements the restricted limits of
Scottish commerce with foreign countries at
this time, as also the commodities in which it
dealt, will be distinctly understood. They also
present a gi-atifying picture of the sympathy,
generosity, and independent spirit of these small
mercantile states, as contrasted with the chival-
rous pride and pretensions of the more jjowerful
communities, that either kept aloof fi'om aiding
the Scots or joined with their oppressors.

Of the coinage of Scotland, a subject so im-
portant in mercantile history, we have not as
yet spoken. As far as can be discovered from
old specimens, it was stUl wholly of silver; and
from the same authorities we learn that it had
no earlier origin than the reign of Alexander I.
These specimens are chiefly silver pennies, but
one of the improvements of Alexander III. was
to coin pieces of two pennies in value. In
weight, form, and fineness the Scottish money
was the same as that of England and bore the
same value ; the temptations to fraudulent clip-
ping and diminishing of the coin were alike in
both counti'ies, and in both the same expedients
were adopted to prevent such a ruinous practice.
The chief of these was to prolong the arms of
the cross stamped in the centre to the edge of
the coin and surround it with a border of small
beads — a weak device against a dexterous chp-
per. It was an idea also common to Scotland
and England in these rude stages of financial
experience that the wealth of a country could
be inci-eased by lightening the coinage; and
thus, while Edward I. decreed that a pound of
silver, which hitherto had produced two hun-
dred and forty pennies, should be coined into
two hundred and forty-three— a trifling protit
for such a dangerous precedent — Robert Bruce,
whose necessities were still more urgent, went
a considerable step beyond him by causing a
pound of silver to be coined into two hundred
and fifty-two pennies.^ An evil thus commenced
was certain to be repeated, but this repetition
did not occur until after the close of the present
period. As the Scottish coinage at this time
consisted wholly of silver, it was divided into

2 Foedera, v. iii. 759, 770. 766, 765, 771.

' M'Pherson's Annals of Commerce, t p. 466.

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

291

groats, half-groats, and pennies, the last coin
being easily split at the indentations of its cross
into halves and quarters to serve as small change
in retail pui'chases.

But it would be of little use to speak of the
coinage of this period without referring to the
substantialities of which it was the symbol. In
common parlance what would a penny fetch!
what was its proportion to the labour or com-
modity for which it was given in payment?
Of this we have a tolerably distinct idea from the
chamberlain accounts, in which the expenses of
the royal household are minuted. We there
find a chalder of wheat sold for a mark, that is
12s. 6d., or 160 pennies. A chalder of rye was
sold for four shillings. A boU of oatmeal varied
from twenty pence to two shillings. From this
average, however, we find the prices shifting
with a mutability unknown in modern markets.
Passing from grain to animal food, we find a
cow sold for five shillings, an ox for six shillings
and eightpence, a sheep for tenpence, a sow for
a shilling, and a hen for a penny. In looking at
the disbursements for the payment of labour
we find that the hue of workmen was suflB-
cieutly liberal. A barrowman or carrier of lime
for a building received from fourteen pence to
two shillings a week. A carpenter was paid
three pence a day with his provisions. A m;ison
received for his yeai-'s wages six pounds tliii-
teen shillings and four pence, while a smith or
armourer — a far more important workman in
these warlike times — had twelve pounds. To
these workmen iu the service of the king such
sums were paid aa, compared with the price of
provisions, give a favourable specimen of the
rate of wages at the close of this period, and
with which, :is we have seen, the necessaries of
life could be abundantly procured.

At the first outburst of the Scottish war for
independence, when every hand that could
wield spade or hoe was required for the use of
sword and speai', our notices of the agriculture
of the country must be still more unsatisfactory
than those of its commerce. The encourage-
ment given to the cultivation of the soil by
Alexander III. and his predecessors through the
establishment of monasteries and royal manora
over the kingdom, and the concession of favour-
able leases and tenures, through which such
abundance had grown during the last of tliese
reigns, was abrujitly terminated. The plough-
share of war, that can convert the most fruitful
Eden into a wilderness, was to p;iss tlirough
the land in every direction ;uid predominate aa
its principal tillage. An uncleared field was
now to be prized beyond a cultivated one, as
affording a better chance for ambush or battle;
and wlioever sowed the harvest had to labour

under the dispiriting conviction that he knew
not by whom it should be reaped. And yet,
not only the inhabitants had to be supported,
but also the English garrisons that were quar-
tered over th« country. Stem necessity and
compulsion alone could now continue those
laboura of the husbandman that had lately been
such a cheerful service, and the produce that was
raised must feed the oppressor before the owner
could pai-take of it. From incidental notices of
these wars we find that oats already formed the
principal grain of the people. The garrisons,
indeed, had to be fed with supplies from Eng-
land independently of purchase or plunder;
but they appear to have used large quantities
of malt for ale, which was made from the oats
of the country. From the same sources we find
that wheat, rye, barley, beans, and pease were
also raised, and that much of the wheaten bread
used by the invading armies of Edward I. was
from Scottish grain that was giound in English
mills. StiU all this limited produce must have
fallen very short of the demand, and the famine
with which the Scots were learning to defend
their country must often have been felt as
keenly by themselves as by the enemy. In an
extreme case, as we have seen in the cai-eer of
Wallace, a large army composed of the male
population of Scotland from sixteen yeare old
to sixty crossed the Border immediately after
their scanty harvest had been gathered in, and
quartered themselves in England when theii-
own country could not have sustained them,
and there were able to revel for weeks in an
abundance to which they had long been stran-
gere. The lesson thus learned w;is often re-
]jeated in after periods, until the Scottish in-
vaders learned to regard the northern counties
as their granai'ies, which they might empty as
often as they could reach them. During the
precarious intervals of truce, when the country
was chiefly shut up within its own resources, the
following incidental notices, in addition to tliose
already given, are derived from tlie caitularies
of the period. In agricultural labom- ploughing
was chiefly performed by oxen, while hoi-ses
were employed in the cart. Cows formed the
principal standard of agricultural value, iis sheep
had done iu earlier communities, and were used
in the payment of dues and forfeitures. In the
more cultivated districts ten cows were the i)ro-
portion assigned for keeping to each plough.
Black aittle were also reared in abundance, in
consequence of their easy maintenance and the
large tracts of common jKisturage that were still
uniiiclosed. Tiie resources of the dairy were
also understood, and cheese is frequently men-
tioned among the food of the inhabitants.
But in such a state of strife, change, and

292

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

[a.d. 1286-1329.

uncertainty, it was to be expected that the
Scots should find the resoiuxes of pasturage
more eligible than those of agriculture; and
accordingly they depended more upon their
flocks, that could be removed into fastnesses
or under cover at the enemy's approach, than
upon their cornfields, that were so liable to be
trampled down or plundered. Besides the large
herds of horses, therefore, that were allowed to
inin at large until they were needed for a war-
like inroad, droves of oxen and swine and flocks
of sheep and goats formed the chief subsistence
of the Scots. In this shifting and precarious
life, which, in fact, was a compulsory return to
their original barbarism, it was well for the
people that they had the produce of their seas,
lakes, and rivers to depend upon as well as
their pasture-lands; and accordingly every kind
of fresh and salt water fish appears to have
been used more fully than ever. Not only the
supply but the means of using it were also
within their- reach, as before this period stell
fisheries or stationary establishments had been
set ujj on the shores and estuai-ies, as well as
yairs or machines of wattle within the stream
of the principal rivers.

In looking at the condition of the bulk of the
Scottish ijeojjle, we can well perceive that it
was for national rather than pereonal freedom
that they fought so bravely and successfully.
It was also unfortunate for them that this war
for national independence only riveted those
links of feudal subjection which their Scoto-
Saxon kings liad forged, as well as made the
chain be more willingly endured. But what
could otherwise have been than that in so great
a danger the people should have clung all the
more closely to their natural leaders, and that
the great champions of the war should have
won for themselves the gratitude as well as the
submission of the commons'? The division of
the whole community into the rulers and the
ruled, the ma.ster and the serf, was now com-
pleted, and the classes into which the latter
were divided may be briefly enumerated. The
first and highest in the scale were the tenants
of the crown, the chui-ch, or the barons. These
were the free farmei-s who paid rent, and might
therefore select their residence and landlord
according to their own good pleasure. But a
part, if not the principal part of their rent, con-
sisted in military service; and therefore in the
event of war they were bound to follow the
banner under which they held, armed according
to their degree, and furnished with forty days'
provisions. This service, indeed, must have
been light enough where the landlord was a
bishop or abbot; but it was different under the
lay bai'ons, who were almost constantly at war

with each other if not with the English. It is
possible, indeed, that this enviable class of
Uberii firmarii, as they were called, was more
numerous than is generally thought, as in those
days four or five acres of cultivated ground were
enough to constitute a farm. But lower than
these half-free rent-payere was a class compris-
ing, it is to be feared, the gi-eater paj-t of the
population, who under such names as nativi,
servi, villani, homines fugitivi, bondi, mancipii,
were in reality the slaves or serfs of Scotland.
Instead of having the choice of a master they
belonged to the owner of the land, and were sold
or transferred with it like cattle or beasts of
burden ; and if they moved beyond bounds they
could be hunted back like stray sheep and
punished for their trespass. Even their children
also and the descendants of their children were
stamped at their birth with the same indelible
brand of slavery, and were the exclusive pro-
perty of the soil, or rather of him who possessed
it, so that their genealogies were carefully pre-
served that each landlord might be able to
identify his property through every succeeding
generation. And thus the serf, however high he
might I'ise liy worth or office, remained a bond-
man still unless he was liberated by favour or
purchase.

Although the " gamyn and gle " with which
the land was so jovial during the golden age of
Alexander III. was so mournfully silenced at
his death, it was arrested, not extinguished ;
and when better days returned with the vic-
tories of Bruce we can easily imagine that those
who mourned the loss of friends were equally
ready to rejoice in their own deliverance. But
what were the games, the sports, and pastimes
in which the long-suppressed national gladness
found its utterance ? Of this, unfortunately, we
have no record, and our knowledge on the sub-
ject can be nothing but conjecture. Of min-
strels and female daucere, of posturei-s, tumblei-s,
and bufloons there had been previously no lack
in Scotland, so that they sometimes accom-
panied the army; but in the present period,
when the war had assumed such a stern and
dangerous character, their' uses in military ex-
peditions were apparently no longer in demand.
Music is equally the voice of a people whether
in sorrow or joy; but here, again, the condition
of the early music and musical instruments of
Scotland is both an obscure and a controversial
subject, which all the antiquarianism of the
present day has been unable to settle. It has
i)een conjectured that at this early period, and
even for a long time previous, the Scots used
three musical instruments — the harp, the tabor,
and the bagpipe. Their performances, however,
must have been limited to festive or peacefiU

A.D. 1286-1329.]

HISTORY OF SOCIETY.

293

occasions, as iu the wars of the Scots at this
time we hear of nothing but the cow-horns with
wliich they were wont to drive sleep from the
enemy's camp or keep it all night iu alarm.

But whatever popular amusements may have
been kept in abeyance by the severity of the
common pressure upon the national spirit, it is
certain that minstrels and minstrelsy would lose
none of their popular favour. It is chiefly in
such an age, and under such trials, that poetry
is kindled into its highest ardour, and is most
welcomed, whether in the form of the rude ballad
or the matured Iliad. And of the minstrels
of Scotland lioth at and after the commence-
ment of these wars, we have a few incidental
notices. During the progress of Edward I.
through the country he Wiis welcomed to the
towns byminstrels and singers; and when David
was married to Joanna of Englmd Ijoth Scottish
and English minstrels attended at the marriage.
Indeed, it appears, that while the palace and
even the baronial haU were incomplete without
their musical retaiuei-s, the towns had also tlieir
minstrels, whose ditties would serve them in
lieu both of histories and newspapers. It is not
difficult to guess what must have been the popu-
lar themes of these bards during such a season
of stir, and strife, and national interest. They
could be little else than the war with England
and the gallant deeds of their brave patriots:
above all, they must have recorded the wonder-
ful exploits of Wallace, whose valour was so
matchless, and whose short life was so full of
incident. This we can easily believe, without
the following testimony of Winton —

" Of his gud dedis, and manhad
Grot Gostis, I liard say, ar made;
Bot sa mony, I trow noucht
As he intil hys dayis wroucht.
Qulia all hys dedis off prys wald dyto,
Hym worthyd a gret buk to wryte."

It was doubtless from these popular ballads that
Henry the Minstrel collected the main incidents
of his Wallace, although he professed to derive
them from the Latin history of Blair, the hero's
chaplain— just as Ariosto, a short time after,
in his Orlando Furioso, quoted the history of
Archbishoi) Turpin as his authority for the
romantic ex])loitM of Charlemagne and his Pa-
ladins. But what has become of these rude, yet,
doubtless, heart-stiiTing popular ballads, which
would now be so valuable to the Scottish liis-
torian after undergoing the usual process of
winnowing? The monks, the only men of the
pen, who were caieful to perpetuate their own
Latin doggerel, would not condescend to tran-
scribe the lays of the olden minstrels; and
tlierefore they have passed away — passed so

utterly, that even of the poetical triumphs of
Bannockburn nothing remains but a single
stanza, and that, too, preserved not by a Scot-
tish writer, but the English chronicler of St.
Albans.i

The present period, however, of the history
of Scotland, although so largely occupied with
political troubles and military achievements,
was not wholly without its learned men, who
obtained a Euroi)ean reputation iri'espective of
their country and it-s turbulent incidents. This
was the era of John of Dunse, better known
among the learned men of his day as Duns
Scotus. So high was his reputation that the
honour of his birth was claimed by England and
Ireland, as well as Scotland ; but after all that
has been written, it is generally allowed that
he was a native of Dunse in Berwickshire, where
he was born in the latter part of the thirteenth
century. An accident decided that he who
might have been nothing better than a stout
Border spearman should become one of the pro-
foundest metajihysicians and ablest disputiints
in Europe. While very young, and tending his
father's sheep, two Franciscan friars of the
town of Dumfries hai>pened to enter into con-
veisation with him, and were so much aston-
ished at the precocious intelligence of the boy,
that they resolved to secure him for the church;
and with this view they prevailed with his
parents to send him to their monastery, where
in due time he became a Franciscan friar.
Among the Scottish prisoners cai-ried off by Ed-
ward I. was John of Dunse and twelve of his
brethren; but after enduring captivity for some
time he obtained liLs freedom, upon which he
repaired to Merton College, Oxford, where he
enjoyed those oiiportunities of study which he
could not have obtained in Scotland. Here he
became so distinguished for his attainments in
philosophy, mathematics, and theology, that in
1301 he was appointed professor of divinity, and
his lectures on the Sentences of Peter Lombaril
obtained such jiopularity that thirty thousantl
students are said to have been attracted toOxford
by the fame of his eloquence. These lectures
which have been printed fill six folio volumes.
In 1304 he went to Paris by order of his monas-
tic superior to defend the doctrine of the im-
maculate conception; and this he did with such
eloquence and success, that a stranger present
is said to have exclaimed, " This must either be

> The single stanza rofemii to is the foIlowiuK.—
Maydens ot Eiit'loiidc, sure iiiny ye momc.
For ye have lost your leuinians at Baunocksborne,

With hevelogh;
OTiat wenyth the kiiige of Eiiglomie
To have got Scotlaiid,

With rombelogh.

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

an angel from heaven, a devil from hell, or John
Duns Scotus !" After he had scattered the two
lumdred objections of his opponents, and trium-
phantly closed the intellectual tournament, he
was rewarded with a professorship in the theo-
logical schools of Paris, and the title of the
" Subtle Doctor," and had the honour of fo>nid-
ing a sect called the Scotists, in opposition to his
rival Thomas Aquinas, the " Angelical Doctor,"
who established the sect of the Thomists. The
opinions of these two mighty champions who
divided Christendom between them, it would
now be a waste of time to state, even if they
could be delivered in a form that would be in-
telligible to the present age. In 1308, when his
fame had reached the height. Duns Scotus was
invited to Cologne to found a university and
defend the doctrine of the immaculate concep-
tion; but in a few months his career was termi-
nated by a stroke of apoplexy, when he had
reached his forty-fourth, or according to others,
only his thirty-fourth year. That he was a man
of immense talents, notwithstanding their use-
less range according to modern estimation, was
evinced by the veneration with which his me-
mory continued to be cherished by the brightest
intellects of the church, and by the care with
which his whole works were collected and re-
published at Lyons so late as 1639, although
they tilled twelve folio volumes.^

Another distinguished Scotchman of this
period was John Bassol, the contemporary and
pupil of Duns Scotus, under whom he studied
at Oxford, and whom he accompanied to Paris

' Chambers' Lives of Eminent Scotchmen.

[a.d. 1286-1329.

in 1304. Although far inferior to his illustrious
master, the latter prized him so highly, that he
was wont to say, " If only John Bassol be pre-
sent I have audience enough." Having entered
the order of Minorite friars Bassol w;is sent by
its superior to Eheims, where he taught philo-
sophy for seven yeara, after which he settled at
Mechlin in Brabant, where he lectured on theo-
logy during twenty-five years, and died in 1347.
As he was of high account among the intellec-
tual men of the age he also received his honorary
title, which was that of the "Most Methodical
Doctor," on account of his accurate distinctions
and precise systematic arrangement, and his
works, consisting of his lectures on the Foitr
Books of Sentences, and essays in philosophy and
medicine, were published in a single folio at
Paris iu 1517.^

Such were the eminent intellectual men whom
Scotland at this time produced — men who owed
their education to England and France, and
their renown to Europe at large, while their
own country could neither understand their ex-
cellence nor be benefited by their labours. And
yet they did not live wholly iu vain for their
native land, which was distinguished even by
the mere accident of their birth, and which
shared in the renown that for a long period was
attached to their names. In such men as Duns
Scotus and Bassol that Scottish metaphysical
spirit gave its first manifestations which was
afterwards to be so identified with the intellec-
tual character of the country when its great
awakening had commenced in earnest.

' Mackenzie's Scotch Writers.

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with olivine edges, at \os. each.

The Works of Shakspeare,

Revised from the best Authorities; with a Memoir and Essay on his Genius by Bryan W. Procter
(Barry Cornwall), Armotations and Introductory Remarks on the Plays by Distinguished Writers, and
numerous Illustrative Engravings from Designs by Kenny Meadows and T. H. Nicholson.

The most distinctive, as well as the most attractive feature of this edition of the Works of Shakspi
pictorial illustrations with which it is so copiously enriched. These are upwards of 750 in number, and bring
before the reader the scenes and incidents occurring in the different plays.

By far the greater number are by the well-kno\vn artist Kenny Meadows, and so important are these
that the edition of which they form a part has been appropriately named the Kenny Meadows Shakspeare.

Each play is accompanied by an original introduction, and explanatory notes from the pens of
tinguL<ihed for their criticai aciunen and their wide knowledge and high appreciation of Shakspearc's w
this work will be found not unworthy of him who " was not of an age, but for all time ".

Blackie & Sons Publications.

In 12 parts, small 410 size, price 2J. each; or 4 volumes, cloth elegant, gilt edges, <)s. each.

Our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria:

HER LIFE AND JUBILEE. By Thomas Archer, f.r.h.s., Author of "Pictures and Royal
Portraits"; '* Fifty Years of Social and Political Progress"; &c. Illustrated by a series of 28 highly-
finished Etchings.

It is believed that for the multitudes of men and women who regard the Queen wiih a sentiment that may be spoken
of as that of personal regard and affection, no more fitting memorial can be provided than a complete and worthy Life of
our Sovereign Lady — a " Life " such as that which is here announced. The narrative presents a biographical rather than
a historical record : a record, faithful, interesting, and well illustrated, of the Royal Family and of the Queen as Sovereign
Lady rather than as Sovereign Ruler.

The Illustrations consist of a series of twenty-eight highly-finished etchings, including portraits of Her Majesty,
the late Prince Consort, and all the members of their Family ; also scenes and events in which the Queen has personally
talcen part.

In 23 parts at 2J. td. each; also 2 vols., cloth extra, gilt edges, price 35-f. each.

Pictures and Royal Portraits,

Illustrative of English and Scottish History, from the Introduction of Christianity to the
Present Time. This Work will comprise a Series of 69 Magnificent Plates engraved on steel in the
most finished manner, with descriptive Historical Sketches, by Thomas Archer. Printed on fine
medium quarto paper, forming 2 elegant volumes, cloth extra, gilt edges, with richly ornamented boards.

"Pictures and Royal Portraits" will present a series of line engravings of historical designs, beautifully executed
in steel, and produced in a new and attractive style, which imparts to them the appearance of highly-finished drawings
in sepia. The series will include faithful reproductions of important paintings by some of the most eminent historical
painters of the present century.

To be completed in IJ parts, folio (size 16X x uX inches), price Jj. each.

The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist

For the use of Architects, Painters, Decorators, and Designers. Containing one hundred
Plates in colours and gold. With Descriptive Notices, and an Introductory Essay on Artistic and
Practical Decoration. By George Ashdown Audsley, ll.d., f.r.i.b.a., and Maurice Ashdovvn
AUDSLEY, Architect.

The highly practical and useful character of this important Work will at once commena it to those interested in
decorative art, to whom it is more immediately addressed.

It will be found useful to the Modeller, the PListerer, the Stone Carver, the Wood Carver, the Fret Cutter, the Inlayer,
the Cabinetmaker, the Potter, the Engraver, the Lithographer, the House Painter, the Architect, the Interior Decorator,
and, indeed, to every workman who has anything to do with ornament and design. To the student in drawing and orna-
mental design it presents a wide field of suggestive study.

Fourth Edition. Large 8vo (lOOO pp.), cloth, \(>s., or half-morocco, 2ar.

A Manual of Rules, Tables, and Data

For Mechanical Engineers, based on the most recent investigations. By Daniel Kinnear
Clark, author of ** Railway Machinery ", &c. &c Illustrated with numerous Diagrams,

This book comprises the leading rules and data, with numerous tables, of constant use in calculations and estimates
relating to Practical Mechanics:— presented in a reliable, clear, and handy form, with an extent of range and completeness
of detail that has not been attempted hitherto. This (the fourth) edition has been carefully revised, and in its preparation
advantage has been taken of many suggestions made by those using the former editions.

" ^fr. Clark ivrites ivith ^rtat clearness, nu.l he has a ^e.it ^(Kt-er of cendcnsin^ and summ-tHz!ii£ /a£ts, atid
he htts thus been eneU^led to embaiy in his volume a collection of data relating to mechanical eng^ituenng, such as has
certainly nrfer he/ore been brought together. We regard the b,vk as onr xvhich ho mechanical tn^nter in regular
f<*(utice can a/ford to be ic///wm/."— Engineering

8 Blackie & Son's Publications.

To be completed in 2i parts, super-royal 8vo, is. each; or in 6 volumes, cloth extra, gj. bd. each.
NEW ISSUE.

The Imperial Bible-Dictionary,

Historical, Biographical, Geographical, and Doctrinal. Edited by Rev. Patrick
Fairbairn, D.D., author of "Typology of Scripture"; &c. With Introductions by the Right Rev.
J. C. Ryle, D.D., Lord Bishop of Liverpool, and Rev. C. H. Waller, m.a- Illustrated by about
seven hundred Engravings.

This Edition will be augmented by an interesting discussion on the subject of Inspiration, by the Rev. C. H.
Waller, Principal of the London College of Divinity. To this is prefixed a luminous introduction on the same subject
by the Right Rev. John Charles Rvle, Lord Bishop of LiverpooL

The Work takes up in alphabetical order all the subjects which enter into the contents of the Bible, while the several
books of which the Bible is composed in every case receive careful and attentive consideration. In the treatment of the
different topics, full advantage is taken of the materials which modem criticism and research have accumulated.

The Pictorial Illustrations include representation.^; of the plants and animals mentioned in Scripture, not-ible scenes and
places, manners of social life, and the manifold productions of human skill. In addition to these illustrations, a Senas of
Views engraved on steel in the most finished manner, accompany the work.

New Issue, to be completed in 6 half- volumes, imperial 8vo, cloth extra, qj. 6(/. each.

The Whole Works of John Bunyan,

Accurately reprinted from the Author's own editions. Collated and edited, with an introduction to
each treatise, numerous illustrative and explanatory notes, and a memoir of Bunyan, by George Offor.
Illustrated by engravings on steel and on wood.

Among the Illustrative Engravings will be found the Portrait of Eunyan after Sadler ; and a careful copy of the inter-
esting Portrait by R. White, now in the British Museum: Views of Bedford, and Prison on Bedford Bridge; of Bunyan's
Cottage, the Market-house and Church, Elslow; and of Bunyan's Tomb in Bunhill Fields. Also, a Series of beautiful
Illustrations of Tkt Pilgrim from Stothard's elegant designs; with Facsimiles of Bunyan's Writing, and of the earliest
wood-cut illustrations to Tki Pilgrifn. and to the Life of B adman.

All the excellencies of this much admired and highly valued edition of Bunyan's Whole Works (of which over twenty
thousand copies have been sold] are retained, the work being simply reprinted with occasional improvements in typography.

Eleven vols., post 8vo, cloth, red edges, 3J. ^d. each; or in handsome case, £2^ is.

Commentary on the New Testament,

Explanatory and Practical. With Questions for Bible-classes and Sunday-schools. By Albert
Barnes. Edited by the Rev. Robert Frew, d.D. With numerous additional Notes, and an ex-
tensive series of beautiful Engravings and Maps, not in any other edition.

Shortly before his decease the Author completed a revision of his Notes on the New Testament, to the end of the Acts
of the Apostles, the only section of the New Testament respecting the exposition and illustration of which modern research
had accumulated new and important materials.

In making this new issue the first three volumes have been re-set so as to embody the author's latest corrections and
additions, and they are now presented for the first time to readers in this country. This issue will consequently be the most
complete and perfect of any published in Great Britain.

In royal 4to, cloth, gilt edges, 30J,

Family Worship:

A Series of Devotional Services for every Morning and Evening throughout the Year, adapted to the
purposes of Domestic Worship ; Prayers for Particular Occasions, and Prayers suitable for Children, &c
By above Two Hundred Evangelical Ministers. Illustrated by Twenty-six fine Engravings on
steel. New and Improved Edition.

The work comprises 732 Ser\nces, adapted to be used in the family, being a service for rz'fry Morning anJ Evening
throughout the year, with Special Services for the Morning and Evening of New-year's Day. Each Service is composed
of Praise, Prayer, and Scriptural Exposition. Thus it points out a suitable psalm or hymn to be sung ; next it refers
to a poEt.iont^ Scupture to be read from the Bible itself, and adds some brief explanatory and practical remarks ; and the
whole'cldses with, ? plain and earnest Prayer.

LR|4q;X)N: --BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED; GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.

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